High prevalence of asymptomatic sexually transmitted infections among human immunodeficiency virus-infected pregnant women in a low-income South African community.
Maanda MudauRemco P PetersLindsey De VosDawie H OlivierDvora J DaveyEdwin S MkwanaziJames A McIntyreJeffrey D KlausnerAndrew Medina-MarinoPublished in: International journal of STD & AIDS (2017)
There is a lack of evidence on the burden of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) and Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) among HIV-infected pregnant women in South Africa. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of HIV-infected pregnant women in two healthcare facilities in a South African township to determine the prevalence of CT, NG and TV. HIV-infected pregnant women were recruited during the first antenatal care visit for their current pregnancy and requested to self-collect vulvovaginal swab specimens. Specimens were tested for CT, NG and TV using the Xpert® assay (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA). Of 247 tested for CT, NG and TV, 47.8% tested positive for at least one organism; CT = 36.8%, TV = 23.9%, NG = 6.9%. Forty three (17.4%) had multiple infections, of which 42 included CT as one of the infecting organisms. Of the 118 participants who tested positive for at least one sexually transmitted infection (STI), 23.7% reported STI-like symptoms. Among women who tested positive for CT, 29.7% reported symptoms while 47.1 and 27.1% of those who tested positive for NG and TV, respectively, reported symptoms. The high STI prevalence coupled with the low symptom prevalence among infected individuals justifies the use of diagnostic screening approaches rather than syndromic management of STIs in this setting.
Keyphrases
- pregnant women
- hiv infected
- image quality
- dual energy
- human immunodeficiency virus
- computed tomography
- contrast enhanced
- healthcare
- antiretroviral therapy
- pregnancy outcomes
- south africa
- risk factors
- positron emission tomography
- magnetic resonance imaging
- hepatitis c virus
- men who have sex with men
- type diabetes
- chronic pain
- polycystic ovary syndrome
- high throughput
- quality improvement
- insulin resistance
- physical activity
- single cell
- adipose tissue
- pain management
- autism spectrum disorder
- gram negative