International STD Research & Reviews

Introduction: Dysmenorrhea is one of the commonest disorders of menstruation afflicting women of reproductive age. It is a cause of lost time from school and work among such women.

Objectives: This study was carried out to determine the perception of dysmenorrhea and its effect on school activities among senior secondary school students in Nnewi-North Local Government Area, Anambra State.

Methodology: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study in which information was elicited from 215 senior secondary school students selected by multi-stage sampling technique.

Results: The predominant age group of respondents was 15-19 years. Among the 215 students, 203 had attained menarche but only 143(70.4%) experienced dysmenorrhea. Also 143 perceived menarche as a normal pain that came with menstruation while 60 regarded it as a sign of some abnormality in the body. Menstrual pain led to impaired concentration in class among 56 (39.2%) of student, missing school/classes by 10(7%) students, and not participating in games by 12 (8.4%) student. However, 25(17.5%) of respondents saw a doctor for their pain, while the rest resorted to self-medication and other non-pharmacological means of pain relief.

Conclusion: The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was high among the students and it affected several school activities adversely. However, several wrong practices have been adopted by majority of the students to tackle their condition.

Recommendation: A proper orientation on dysmenorrhea should be given to parents and teachers of students at the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meeting to enable them address properly, all matters related to this condition.

Aim: This was to ascertain the knowledge, attitude, practice and determinants of Prevention of Mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT) of HIV among pregnant women in Abia State, Nigeria.

Study Design: Comparative cross sectional study was used.

Place and Duration of Study: Selected Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the state between January and June 2015.

Methodology: Pregnant women attending antenatal care clinic eligible for voluntary participation were selected and studied using pre-tested, semi-structured, interviewer administered questionnaire. Multistage sampling technique was used.

Results: It was based on 350 pregnant women (175 each for urban and rural). Their mean ages were 32.46±10.12 for urban and 33.24±9.31 for rural. Majority had at least secondary education, 95.5% for urban and 96.4% for rural. There were good knowledge, positive attitude and good practice of HIV and PMTCT services in both groups though higher in urban areas. Mean knowledge and attitude showed significant difference between the groups p < 0.001 but not significant for practice p=0.45. For knowledge; occupation (χ²=8.044, p=0.045) and monthly income (χ² =7.126, p= 0.008) were significant for urban, monthly income (χ² =4.996, p= 0.025) was for rural. Occupation was significantly associated with practice for rural (χ²=8.717, p=0.03). Civil/public servants (OR =9.6, 95% CI: 1.13-80.82) in urban (OR =1.1, 95% CI: 0.46-2.77) in rural group. Those earning >15000 (OR = 4.5, 95% CI: 1.75-13.71) in urban (OR =5.4 95% CI: 1.28-22.63) in rural for knowledge. Equally Civil/public servants 2.1 times (OR = 2.1, 95% CI: 0.99-4.59) in urban, (OR =2.1, 95% CI: 1.01-4.19) in rural group for practice.

Conclusion: Knowledge attitude and practice on PMTCT were good among pregnant women. Occupation and monthly income influences knowledge and practice of PMTCT and as well were predictors of good knowledge and practice of PMTCT. This needs to be improved on and sustained to curb the scourging menace of HIV.

Objectives: To evaluate undergraduate students’ perception of teaching received with regards to HIV/AIDS. Also to compare between preclinical and clinical, male and female students in their knowledge toward potential routes of transmission, associated lesions, infection control procedures and attitude of either to refer or treat these patients.

Materials and Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional institutional based study among 279 undergraduate dental students; preclinical were 154 and clinical were 125. Participants were selected by systematic random sampling from eight dental schools in the Khartoum State. Self administered questionnaire including questions regarding demographic data, perception, knowledge and attitude toward HIV/AIDS virology, associated lesions, and route of transmission, sterilization and infection control measures. Comparison between variables by Ch-Squire test with the level of statistical significance set at P value ≤ 0.05.

Results: The response rate was 91.3%. The majority (87.7%) believed that AIDS is a real problem in Sudan. More than half of the participants recognized the lesions associated with HIV and 61.3% knew that T-lymphocytes are primarily the host defense cells which are affected in AIDS. Less than half (44.4%) answered that they do not have any previous knowledge regarding the average time interval between contracting HIV and the production of antibodies. The majority thought; that AIDS patients should be treated at any dental center but felt special precautionary measures were necessary during treatment. Some thought they should be referred to other specialized centers. The fear of treating HIV-infected patients was further revealed by the inadequate knowledge of HIV transmission routes.

Conclusion: Overall knowledge about HIV/AIDS oral manifestations was satisfactory, the majority felt they can treat patients with AIDS, but thought special precautions were needed. No difference was found between preclinical and clinical, male and female regarding perception of teaching received on HIV/AIDS.

Background: Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is very common with significant morbidity and health expenditure. Many cases are associated with concurrent infections with other sexually transmitted infections and several factors have been attributed as risks for VVC. This study sought to determine the prevalence of Vulvovaginal candidiasis and other reproductive tract/ sexually transmitted infections (RTI/STI) among female patients, evaluate concurrent infection of VVC with other RTI/STI and to identify factors associated with VVC.

Methods: A five year review of data collected for female attendees of a special treatment clinic was carried out. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, clinical presentation, laboratory investigations, and management were collected and analysed.

Results: Four hundred and seventy three records were examined. The mean age of subjects was 31 years (SD=8.94). The prevalence of vulvovaginal candidiasis was 30.9%. The prevalence of bacterial vaginosis, genital warts and chlamydia cervicitis were 23.5%, 14%, and 11.6% respectively, while those of herpes genitalis, trichomoniasis, gonorrhoea, and syphilis were 4%, 3.3%, 1.1%, and 0.4% respectively. Co-infection with VVC was seen in 40.4% of subjects the highest being with bacterial vaginosis. Women aged less than 40 years were significantly more likely than older women to have VVC.

Conclusion: Vulvovaginal candidiasis is the commonest genital infection among these women. Young women are at higher risk and concurrent infections especially with bacterial vaginosis are quite common.  

Thirty years after the discovery of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), more than 29 antiretroviral have been introduced. HIV at present can be managed though; it comes with consequences such as toxicity due to long term use of antiretroviral, development of resistance by HIV-1 strains and other viral or bacterial infections associated with it. Issues such as latency, socio-economic problem in the developing world has been of considerable concern. The benefits of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the developed countries far outweighed those in the underdeveloped nations. HIV belongs to the genus Lentivirus and family Retroviridae, possess a diploid RNA and a cone shaped capsid core particles. The virus consists of major and minor structural and nonstructural proteins that perform different roles in the virus life cycle. In this review we seek to give a comprehensive account of the past, present and future directions in the development of antiretroviral drug. There are five classes of antiretroviral inhibitors which target HIV-1’s reverse transcriptase, protease, integrase, envelope fusion and co-receptor binding thereby disrupting virus replicative cycle. Strategies have emerged on how to better manage HIV patients such as simplification of drugs, complete HAART withdrawal, use of microbicides, targeted PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), and vaccine development. There are several host (example; CRIM-1) proteins and virus (example; Rev and Tat) proteins that remain unexplored and could serve as potential druggable targets, thus the need for further research in this direction.