Bacterial vaginosis, vaginal flora patterns and vaginal hygiene practices in patients presenting with vaginal discharge syndrome in The Gambia, West Africa

Table 1 Vaginal flora isolates by Nugent's score among women presenting with vaginal discharge syndrome at the GUM clinic in Fajara, The Gambia

	Total Samples		Scanty Growth		Semi-confluent growth		Confluent growth		P-value ²
Nugent's score¹	0–6	7–10	0–6	7–10	0–6	7–10	0–6	7–10
Isolate	N	N	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)	% (n)
Aerobic flora
Lactobacillus spp.	119	106	5.0 (6)	8.5 (9)	16.8 (20)	4.7 (5)	33.6 (40)	4.7 (5)	<0.001
Coliform spp.	119	106	12.6 (15)	9.4 (10)	1.7 (2)	6.6 (7)	5.0 (6)	4.7 (5)	0.868
Staphylococcus spp.	119	105	24.4 (29)	37.1 (39)	9.24 (11)	4.8 (5)	0.8 (1)	0.9 (1)	0.217
Streptococcus spp.	119	105	13.4 (16)	15.2 (16)	11.8 (14)	12.4 (13)	13.4 (16)	10.9 (11)	1.000
Candida spp.	93	81	11.8 (11)	14.8 (12)	16.1 (15)	7.4 (6)	15.1 (14)	8.6 (7)	0.117
Microaerophilic flora
Gardnerella vaginalis	117	106	1.7 (2)	8.5 (9)	6.8 (8)	21.7 (23)	13.7 (16)	38.7 (41)	<0.001
Anaerobic flora
Any anaerobic isolate³	34	32	1 (3)	2 (6)	2 (6)	9 (28)	3 (9)	6 (19)	0.005 ⁴
Bacteroides spp.	34	32	0	6.2 (2)	0	12.5 (4)	2.9 (1)	12.5 (4)	0.002
Prevotella spp.	34	32	2.9 (1)	0	2.9 (1)	9.4 (3)	2.9 (1)	12.5 (4)	0.180
Peptostreptococcus spp.	34	32	0	0	0	3.1 (1)	0	0	0.485
Other anaerobes⁵	34	32	0	0	1 (3)	2 (6)	1 (3)	0	0.801
Mobiluncus spp.	35	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	-
Mycoplasma hominis	115	105	0	0	2.6 (3)	0.9 (1)	14.8 (17)	24.8 (26)	0.142

Note: denominators vary according to the number of samples for which each test was conducted (see Results section).
¹ Nugent's categories: score 0–6 = normal and intermediate flora; score 7–10 = BV.
² From Fisher's Exact test.
³ Includes Bacteroides spp., Prevotella spp. and Peptostreptococcus spp. isolates and other anaerobes.
⁴ Anaerobic isolates were found in 21 samples out of 66; 5 women had more than 1 anaerobic isolate in which case the highest level of growth was used for the significance test.
⁵ Anaerobic Gram-negative rods, anaerobic Gram-positive or pigmented anaerobes.

ISSN: 1471-2334