PREVALENCE OF Gardnerella vaginalis IN WOMEN ATTENDED IN GYNECOLOGICAL CLINICS IN NATAL-RN AND THE ASSOCIATION WITH FACTORS RELATED WITH THE PACIENTS
Gardnerella vaginalis; Bacterial vaginosis; Prevalence
Gardnerella, especially the Gardnerella vaginalisstrain, is not part of the vaginal microbiota, ie it is sexually transmitted when one of the partners has the bacterium. Already, bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a multifactorial and polymicrobial syndrome that occurs when there is an imbalance in the vaginal microbiota of Gardnerella vaginalisthat has virulence factors and overlaps the vaginal epithelium due to the ability to form biofilm. In this sense, the presence of this species represents a risk factor for women and also for the fetus. With regard to the objective of the study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of Gardnerella vaginalisin samples of vaginal secretion of women attended at a gynecological clinic in the city of Natal-RN and to verify the association with factors related to them. As far as the methodology is concerned, this is a cross-sectional descriptive study whose target population was composed of 395 patients who were consulting in a private gynecological clinic in Natal-RN, where a cytological analysis was performed of the vaginal secretion performed according to the Papanicolau method and later, being evaluated the criteria for confirmation of the microorganisms. According to the results presented, a prevalence of 35.4% of the patients who presented the bacterial species G.vaginaliswas verified. In addition, it was possible to analyze the association between the presence of Gardnerella vaginalis and some independent variables such as: suggestive diagnosis of HPV; presence of discharge; amine test, among others. Based on the above, we conclude a significant prevalence of Gardnerella vaginaliscolonizing the patients vagina, in addition to the statistically significant association between the presence of the bacterium and some behavioral and sexual factors. In this sense, it is important to affirm that the socioeconomic difference was not so relevant in the study, so it is important to analyze the ethnic issue and clinical criteria showing that Bacterial Vaginosis is dependent on multiple factors.