Abstract

ABSTRACT
The study was designed in across-sectional pattern, on 335 pregnant women who attended the
department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Maternity and Child Teaching Hospital, and some private
clinics in AL-Diwaniya city. They were examined for bacterial vaginosis in the period from September
2002 to the end of February 2003. The present study showed that 96(28.6%) women affected by bacterial
vaginosis, 109(32.6%) women presented with abnormal vaginal discharge due to other causes and 130
(38.8%) women without any signs and symptoms of vaginitis G.vaginalis were isolated from 89(93.7%),
3(2.7%) and 45(34.6%)of the above mentioned groups respectively. The main age group of bacterial
vaginosis occurrence was (25-35%) years, and was more common among pregnant women in the third
trimester of pregnancy (40.7%), where the economic status and parity of patient appeared to play no role
on the disease prevalence. It was found that the bacterial vaginosis plays an important and significant
role in the causation of preterm delivery (Odds ratio 2.9). It was found that Amsel's criteria are good and
valid screening tests in the early diagnosis than the cultural technique, because of their high sensitivity
and specificity, which yielded (96%, 95%) respectively. Other microorganisms are mainly Candida
albicans (11.9%), Staphylococcus aureus (7.4%), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (4.8%), Beta haemolytic
streptococcal (3.6%) and to a less prevalence rates for Neisseria gonorrhea (2.6%) and Trichomonas
vaginalis (2.08%).