SCREENING OF INFERTILE FEMALES FOR LOWER GENITAL TRACT INFECTIONS

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Introduction: Infertility has been known to cause serious social and emotional problems worldwide. Besides other causes of female infertility, the role of female reproductive tract infection is well recognized. Lower genital tract infection, be it symptomatic or asymptomatic, need to be diagnosed and treated properly. In view of this our study was done. Aim & Objectives: To evaluate the bacteriological profile of lower genital tract in infertile females. Methodology: It was a cross sectional type of study. After taking consent, three swabs (high vaginal swab, endocervical swab and swab from lateral vaginal wall) were taken from 100 infertile women. A questionnaire covering demographic data, menstrual history, medical history, history of infertility, etc. was completed for each of the participants. Isolation and identification of the isolates were done as per conventional techniques. Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing was done for the aerobic isolates as per CLSI guidelines. Results: In our study, 47% of females were asymptomatic and majority them showed positive microbiological growth. E.coli and S.aureus were the most common aerobic isolates and Prevotella spp. was the most common anaerobic isolate. Majority of the anaerobes were associated with bacterial vaginosis. Majority of our isolates were susceptible to Gentamicin. Conclusion: The absence of clinical symptoms does not rule out the possibility of an ongoing acute inflammatory state due infective agents. Hence, both asymptomatic and symptomatic females should be screened for lower genital tract infections as the consequences may lead to infertility.