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It is crucial to address this problem to ensure women's health and well-being. A\u00a0cross-sectional study was carried out among a cohort of 398\u00a0women of reproductive age who sought medical attention at the Gynecology Department of the Arba Minch General Hospital, southern Ethiopia, from January to June 2020. They were chosen through systematic random sampling, and a pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. The collection of vaginal and\/or cervical swabs were done to diagnose bacterial vaginosis (BV) and aerobic vaginitis (AV) using Nugent and AV score analyses, respectively. The\u00a0swabs were subjected to standard microbiological culture techniques to detect the isolates causing AV and vaginal candidiasis (VC). The susceptibility profiles of the causative agents of AV were checked by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were also done. Aerobic vaginitis was the predominantly diagnosed RTI (n\u2009=\u2009122, 30.7%), followed by BV (n\u2009=\u2009117, 29.4%) and VC (n\u2009=\u2009111, 27.9%). The prominent bacteria of AV were\u00a0<jats:italic>Escherichia coli<\/jats:italic>\u00a0(n\u2009=\u200936, 34.2%) and <jats:italic>Klebsiella pneumoniae<\/jats:italic>\u00a0(n\u2009=\u200930, 28.5%). The overall rate of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria was 65.71% (n\u2009=\u200969).\u00a0History of abortion (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.01; AOR\u2009=\u20094.0, 95% CI\u2009=\u20092.1, 7.7) and the habit of using vaginal pH-altering contraceptives (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.01; AOR\u2009=\u20094.7, 95% CI\u2009=\u20092.5, 8.8) have the greatest odds of RTI. The high prevalence of RTIs in our study warrants an urgent intervention to minimize the associated morbidities and complications. The overall rate of MDR bacterial isolates necessitates the implementation of an effective surveillance program in the study setting.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-024-58654-y","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,29]],"date-time":"2024-04-29T12:02:12Z","timestamp":1714392132000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Aerobic vaginitis, bacterial vaginosis, and vaginal candidiasis among women of reproductive age in Arba Minch, southern Ethiopia"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8289-5861","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Addis","family":"Aklilu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0614-7623","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Melat","family":"Woldemariam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1146-8093","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aseer","family":"Manilal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Getahun","family":"Koira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Reham M.","family":"Alahmadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gurusamy","family":"Raman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Akbar","family":"Idhayadhulla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manaye","family":"Yihune","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"58654_CR1","volume-title":"Integrating STI\/RTI Care for Reproductive Health\u2014Sexually Transmitted and Other Reproductive Tract Infections: A Guide to Essential Practice","author":"World Health Organisation","year":"2005","unstructured":"World Health Organisation. 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