Cargando…

HIV-1, HSV-2 and syphilis among pregnant women in a rural area of Tanzania: Prevalence and risk factors

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that a substantial proportion of new HIV infections in African countries are associated with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). Thus, the magnitude of HSV-2 infection in an area may suggest the expected course of the HIV epidemic. We determined prevalence of genital h...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Yahya-Malima, Khadija I, Evjen-Olsen, Bjørg, Matee, Mecky I, Fylkesnes, Knut, Haarr, Lars
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2423369/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18513451
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-8-75
_version_ 1782156093594533888
author Yahya-Malima, Khadija I
Evjen-Olsen, Bjørg
Matee, Mecky I
Fylkesnes, Knut
Haarr, Lars
author_facet Yahya-Malima, Khadija I
Evjen-Olsen, Bjørg
Matee, Mecky I
Fylkesnes, Knut
Haarr, Lars
author_sort Yahya-Malima, Khadija I
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that a substantial proportion of new HIV infections in African countries are associated with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). Thus, the magnitude of HSV-2 infection in an area may suggest the expected course of the HIV epidemic. We determined prevalence of genital herpes, syphilis and associated factors among pregnant women from a remote rural Tanzanian community that has a low but increasing HIV prevalence. METHODS: We analysed 1296 sera and responses to a standard structured questionnaire collected from pregnant women aged between 15–49 years, attending six different antenatal clinics within rural Manyara and Singida regions in Tanzania. Linked anonymous testing (with informed consent) of the serum for specific antibodies against HSV-2 was done using a non-commercial peptide- 55 ELISA. Antibodies against syphilis were screened by using rapid plasma reagin (RPR) and reactive samples confirmed by Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay (TPHA). RESULTS: Previous analysis of the collected sera had shown the prevalence of HIV antibodies to be 2%. In the present study the prevalence of genital herpes and syphilis was 20.7% (95% CI: 18.53–23.00) and 1.6% (95% CI: 1.03–2.51), respectively. The presence of HSV-2 antibodies was associated with polygamy (OR 2.2, 95% CI: 1.62 – 3.01) and the use of contraceptives other than condoms (OR 1.7, 95% CI: 1.21 – 2.41). Syphilis was associated with reporting more than one lifetime sexual partner (OR 5.4, 95% CI: 1.88 – 15.76) and previous spontaneous abortion (OR 4.3, 95% CI: 1.52–12.02). CONCLUSION: The low prevalence of HIV infection offers a unique opportunity for strengthening HIV prevention in a cost-effective manner. The identification and control of other prevalent curable STIs other than syphilis and specific intervention of HSV-2 in specific populations like pregnant women would be one among approaches towards preventing incident HIV infections.
format Text
id pubmed-2423369
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2008
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-24233692008-06-10 HIV-1, HSV-2 and syphilis among pregnant women in a rural area of Tanzania: Prevalence and risk factors Yahya-Malima, Khadija I Evjen-Olsen, Bjørg Matee, Mecky I Fylkesnes, Knut Haarr, Lars BMC Infect Dis Research Article BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that a substantial proportion of new HIV infections in African countries are associated with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). Thus, the magnitude of HSV-2 infection in an area may suggest the expected course of the HIV epidemic. We determined prevalence of genital herpes, syphilis and associated factors among pregnant women from a remote rural Tanzanian community that has a low but increasing HIV prevalence. METHODS: We analysed 1296 sera and responses to a standard structured questionnaire collected from pregnant women aged between 15–49 years, attending six different antenatal clinics within rural Manyara and Singida regions in Tanzania. Linked anonymous testing (with informed consent) of the serum for specific antibodies against HSV-2 was done using a non-commercial peptide- 55 ELISA. Antibodies against syphilis were screened by using rapid plasma reagin (RPR) and reactive samples confirmed by Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay (TPHA). RESULTS: Previous analysis of the collected sera had shown the prevalence of HIV antibodies to be 2%. In the present study the prevalence of genital herpes and syphilis was 20.7% (95% CI: 18.53–23.00) and 1.6% (95% CI: 1.03–2.51), respectively. The presence of HSV-2 antibodies was associated with polygamy (OR 2.2, 95% CI: 1.62 – 3.01) and the use of contraceptives other than condoms (OR 1.7, 95% CI: 1.21 – 2.41). Syphilis was associated with reporting more than one lifetime sexual partner (OR 5.4, 95% CI: 1.88 – 15.76) and previous spontaneous abortion (OR 4.3, 95% CI: 1.52–12.02). CONCLUSION: The low prevalence of HIV infection offers a unique opportunity for strengthening HIV prevention in a cost-effective manner. The identification and control of other prevalent curable STIs other than syphilis and specific intervention of HSV-2 in specific populations like pregnant women would be one among approaches towards preventing incident HIV infections. BioMed Central 2008-06-02 /pmc/articles/PMC2423369/ /pubmed/18513451 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-8-75 Text en Copyright © 2008 Yahya-Malima et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Yahya-Malima, Khadija I
Evjen-Olsen, Bjørg
Matee, Mecky I
Fylkesnes, Knut
Haarr, Lars
HIV-1, HSV-2 and syphilis among pregnant women in a rural area of Tanzania: Prevalence and risk factors
title HIV-1, HSV-2 and syphilis among pregnant women in a rural area of Tanzania: Prevalence and risk factors
title_full HIV-1, HSV-2 and syphilis among pregnant women in a rural area of Tanzania: Prevalence and risk factors
title_fullStr HIV-1, HSV-2 and syphilis among pregnant women in a rural area of Tanzania: Prevalence and risk factors
title_full_unstemmed HIV-1, HSV-2 and syphilis among pregnant women in a rural area of Tanzania: Prevalence and risk factors
title_short HIV-1, HSV-2 and syphilis among pregnant women in a rural area of Tanzania: Prevalence and risk factors
title_sort hiv-1, hsv-2 and syphilis among pregnant women in a rural area of tanzania: prevalence and risk factors
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2423369/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18513451
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-8-75
work_keys_str_mv AT yahyamalimakhadijai hiv1hsv2andsyphilisamongpregnantwomeninaruralareaoftanzaniaprevalenceandriskfactors
AT evjenolsenbjørg hiv1hsv2andsyphilisamongpregnantwomeninaruralareaoftanzaniaprevalenceandriskfactors
AT mateemeckyi hiv1hsv2andsyphilisamongpregnantwomeninaruralareaoftanzaniaprevalenceandriskfactors
AT fylkesnesknut hiv1hsv2andsyphilisamongpregnantwomeninaruralareaoftanzaniaprevalenceandriskfactors
AT haarrlars hiv1hsv2andsyphilisamongpregnantwomeninaruralareaoftanzaniaprevalenceandriskfactors