Talat H Rizvi, Hassan Fatima, Surryia Sayeed, Shah Sultan Sher Ali.
Vaginal infection and birth weight.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;42(1):7-9.

Objectives: Importance of recognition of infection at an early stage of pregnancy. Methodology: The study was one-year cross sectional that included 149 mothers and their neonates selected by convenient sampling from JPMC irrespective of age, parity, excluding diabetic patients. A questionnaire was filled with complete obstetric history and physical examination. Three sets of vaginal swabs were taken. Set-1 Trichomonas vaginalis, Set-2 bacteria, yeast candida albicans and candida, Set-3 for culture on different agars. Data were analysed using SPSS version. Results: Mean age of mothers in years was 25 ± 5.5, range 17-45 years. Mean birth weight was 2.5 kg ± 0.6, range 1-5 kg. Frequency of vaginal infection was 96.6%; bacteria were isolated in 144 cases (96.6%). Yeast, that is candida albicans and candida species in 108 mothers (72.5%) and Trichomonas vaginalis in 136 mothers (91.3%). Frequency of low birth weight was 32.2%. Frequency of pre-term labour and low birth weight neonates was high among infected mothers. Comparing mothers with single infection and multiple infection, pre-term delivery was relatively more frequent in former. Conclusion: Proper control and management of vaginal infection especially in late gestation may helps in reducing the frequency of low birth weight infants and thereby improve child development.

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