International STD Research & Reviews

Syphilis is one of the sexually transmitted diseases that is prevalent in developing countries and is of public health importance. Among pregnant women, it is reported to cause foetal defects if not treated. This study was thus carried out to determine the prevalence of syphilis among pregnant women visiting a health facility in Rivers State. Records of 482 pregnant women who visited the health facility within January and December 2018 were reviewed after obtaining due consent from the relevant authority. The sensitivity rate of the RPR test was higher than the THPA test, however the THPA has been found to be more specific. A prevalence rate of 2.28% was reported among the samples collected. The women who tested positive had little or no formal education which may have contributed to low knowledge of the disease. Intensive public health awareness on the means of transmission, symptoms, signs and effects of contracting the disease, especially among pregnant women should be carried out. Also, robust screening should be carried out at the community level in order to have proper record of the number of persons infected. Rapid test kits that are reliable should be made available also.

Aim: This study assesses the effects of HAART on liver and renal functions in HIV infected individuals on HAART.

Study Design: Cross sectional study.

Place and Methods: This study was conducted in Tamale, Ghana from August, 2015 to November 2017.

Methodology: A total of 300 HIV infected participants with ages ranging from 19 to 79 years who have been administered with HAART for at least 6 months were recruited. Pre-HAART administration (baseline) demographic and clinical information, with initial liver and renal function test results were retrieved from the medical records of the participants present at the ART center. Post HAART administration blood sample (5 mLs) was taken from each participant into a gel separated vacutainer tube, allowed to clot and spun at 3000 rpm for 3 minutes to produce serum. The product (serum) was used for liver and renal function test analysis using a fully automated chemistry analyser (Vital Scientific Selectra Flexor XL).

Results: Of the study population, 72% were administered with AZT/3TC/EFV, 13% with AZT/3TC/NVP, 6.7% with TDF/3TC/LPV/r and TDF/3TC/NVP, 1% with AZT/3TC/EFV while 0.7% were administered with TDF/FTC/EFV. The following parameters were significantly increased post HAART administration; ALT (25.53 ± 16.90 to 30.87 ± 19.28 U/L), ALP (163.7 ± 141.0 to 215.2 ± 143.4 U/L), GGT (37.27 ± 25.21 to 53.19 ± 41.71 U/L), Total protein (73.97 ± 17.08 to 82.31 ± 11.62 g/L), Albumin (38.02 ± 9.331 to 41.01 ± 7.471 g/L), Globulin 38.02 ± 15.71 to 42.79 ± 25.20 (g/L). There were however significant reductions in Total bilirubin (12.13 ± 10.85 to 9.434 ± 4.560 µmol/L), Direct bilirubin (6.616 ± 5.770 to 4.184 ± 2.806 µmol/L), (Creatinine 73.19 ± 36.13 to 63.14 ± 27.14 µmol/L) and Urea (3.515 ± 2.552 to 3.011±1.274 mmol/L).

Conclusion: HAART improves renal function, induces elevation in liver enzymes, stimulates the production of plasma proteins and reduces serum bilirubin concentration.

Aim: This study reports on the detection of Treponema pallidum (syphilis) antibodies in HIV infected patients in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Screening for syphilis was carried out to determine the prevalence levels of these infections, as biological markers of risk, modes, and time functions of their transmission.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) and O.B. Lulu Briggs Medical Centre, University of Port Harcourt, both in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, between August 2012 and July 2015.

Methods: A total of 100 HIV-infected individuals and 100 sexually-active attendees were recruited for this study. Samples of blood were collected and re-screened for the presence of HIV antibodies using the Determine HIV-1/2 (Alere), HIV ½ Stat-Pak (Chembio), and HIV-1/2/P24/O ELISA kit (Dia.Pro). The same set of samples were screened for Treponema pallidum specific antibodies using the syphilis Ultra Rapid Test Strip (ACON(R), USA) and syphilis rapid strips (Global, USA) following the respective manufacturer's instructions.

Results: Among the 200 samples, serological reactivity was detected for syphilis in 3(1.5%). The incidence of syphilis was higher in males (2.0%) than in females (1.0%). Age, sex, and locality did not significantly (P>0.05) influence the rate of syphilis.

Conclusion: This study further confirms the presence of syphilis among the population studied. Routine screening of Syphilis among patients is therefore advocated.

Background: HIV testing services (HTS) act as a critical entry point to HIV care, treatment and prevention services, and offer the opportunity for specially-trained health care providers to encourage avoidance of high risk sexual behaviour among both HIV negative and HIV-positive individuals. However, there are some challenges that can hinder effective delivery of HIV Counseling and Testing services by health care providers. This study was therefore designed to investigate barriers to effective HIV testing services and strategies for its promotion at the primary health care facilities in Ibadan.

Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among health care providers in primary health care facilities in five local government areas in Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria. A 4-stage sampling techniques was used to select 19 respondents and interviewed using key informant interview guide. Interviews were transcribed verbatim. Spot check of transcripts were conducted to ensure completeness of the transcription. The data were sorted, categorized, and analyzed using a qualitative data analysis computer software package (NVivo).

Results: All the respondents interviewed reported that, there were pre and post-tests counseling including HIV testing services in their facilities. Some respondents added there were laboratory services and linkages to other care and support services for those tested positive to HIV. However, most of the respondents reported insufficient consumables, insufficient staff, no privacy, lack of infrastructures as barriers to effective HIV testing services. Many of the respondents recommended community sensitization, more provision for consumables, drugs and kits as strategies for promoting HIV testing services.

Conclusion: This study revealed that the primary health centres have pre-test and post-test HIV counseling services but insufficient consumables and staff were the major barriers to HIV testing services in this study. It is therefore necessary for government to make provision for consumables and more personnel to boost the activities of the health facilities.

Aim: HIV/AIDS remains a leading cause of death and disability in Sub Saharan Africa and this accounts for almost half of the world’s HIV related deaths. On the other hand, bacterial sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as syphilis contributes to the morbidity and mortality obtained in developing countries. Co-infection of syphilis and HIV may increase the risk of HIV transmission and adversely affect reproductive health. Prompt diagnosis and treatment of STDs in HIV positive individuals can help prevent spread to their partners. There is also very little information about incidence and prevalence of HIV/Syphilis co-infection and their determinants. The aim of this study is to evaluate the HIV/Syphilis co-infection among HIV-infected individuals in Uyo, Nigeria.

Methods: A total of 176 individuals living with HIV participated in this study. The average age of the study participants was 39.1 years from a range of 6-67 years. Plasma samples obtained from the human subjects were analysed for presence of HIV and Syphilis antibodies using enzyme-Linked immunosorbent Assay.

Results: Our findings showed that the overall prevalence of HIV/Syphilis co-infection in Uyo was 1.7%. Analysis of the results revealed that the variables—sex and educational background—significantly influenced the rate of syphilis sero-positivity among the population under study. While variables- age, marital status and occupational skills non-significantly influenced the rate of syphilis sero-positivity among the population under study.

Conclusion: This study confirmed the co-infection of HIV and Syphilis in Uyo, Nigeria. Early screening of Syphilis and other STDs contributes to the control of infection and reduces the spread of HIV to partners. A number of primary preventive interventions for HIV and syphilis need to be adopted including use of condoms and medical male circumcision in order to improve sexual and reproductive health amongst individuals.

Background: This study was conducted for the purpose of determining the effect of violence against women upon the attitudes of immigrant women toward family planning.

Methods: It is a cross-sectional and descriptive study. The smallest number of study sample was determined as 383. Four hundred fifteen married women aged 15-49, who applied to the aforementioned FHCs and accepted to participate in the study, were included in the study. The research data were collected by using a “Women’s Information Form”, “Scale for Domestic Violence against Women (SDVW)” and “Family Planning Attitude Scale”.

Results: It was determined that 46.7% of women were in the age group of 21-30, 44.1% were primary school graduates, 46.5% had migrated at least eleven years before, 63.1% had migrated from the Eastern Anatolia Region and 37.3% had migrated due to family and relatives. The score averages of women were determined as 74.87±10.01 in the Scale for Domestic Violence against Women and 108.96±17.92 in the Family Planning Attitude Scale. As a result of the correlation analysis that was performed between the score averages of the Scale for Domestic Violence against Women and the Family Planning Attitude Scale; a negative, moderate and significant relationship was determined (r=-0.329, p<0.001).

Conclusion: It could be suggested that as violence against immigrant women increases, their attitudes toward family planning are affected negatively. As a result of this study; it was determined that violence against immigrant women negatively affected the attitudes of women toward family planning and their state of using reproductive healthcare services.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system cells, and causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). Incarcerated populations have a recognized increased risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Objectives: The study was aimed to identify the frequency of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B/C in women incarcerated in a prison in a big city in northeast Brazil.

Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional quantitative study.

Methodology: The sample was composed of incarcerated women in a medium- to high-security prison in a metropolitan region in northeast Brazil. Between January and October 2018, 200 prisoners were interviewed to collect their socio-demographic data. At that time, a drop of peripheral blood was collected to perform syphilis, HIV, and hepatitis B and C rapid tests after informed consent was obtained.

Results: The age of the women ranged from 19 to 62 years old (mean=32.85±10.4). The time of incarceration varied between less than one to 10 years (mean=3.6±2.1). The majority of the women were single (71.5%), not pregnant (97%), mixed race (68.5%), housewives (30.5%) and had an elementary school education (51%). Among the 122 women tested for syphilis, 24 were positive (19.7%). HIV was present in 4 of the 200 tested woman (2%), and hepatitis C was identified in 3 of the 91 tested patients. All 85 patients tested for hepatitis B were negative. When considering the time of incarceration, the results were not significantly different.

Conclusion: Only the frequency of syphilis was high, at almost 20%, which is higher than those observed in other studies from other regions of Brazil and other countries.

The act of adding extra parameters into existing distributions for increasing their flexibility or performance is a giant stride in the area of statistical theory and applications. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that leads to a progressive deterioration of the immune system. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV is a problem in Nigeria where its rate has been on an increase over the past few years. The Exponentiation family is one of the most efficient methods proposed and studied for introducing skewness and flexibility into continuous probability distributions with a single shape parameter. In this paper, the method of exponentiation has been used to add flexibility to the exponential inverse exponential distribution which results to a new continuous model known as “Exponentiated Exponential Inverse Exponential distribution”. The properties, application and estimation of parameters of the new distribution using the method of maximum likelihood estimation are presented and discussed in this paper. The new model has been applied to a dataset on the rate of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and the result is being compared among the fitted distributions using some information criteria.

Introduction: The study investigated the attitude and awareness amongst secondary school students of sexually transmitted infections in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers state.

Methodology: Three research questions were formulated to guide the study, with a target population of 350 from fifteen schools and sample size of 70 students, drawn through disproportionate random sampling technique. The Sexually Transmitted Infection Evaluator (STIE) questionnaire was employed to gather data from the respondents. The instrument was validated by two experts in Measurement and Evaluation, while reliability of the instrument was determined through test-retest method to obtain a coefficient of 0.90 index. The research questions were analyzed using mean value.

Results: The attitude of students towards sexually transmitted infections is negative and the awareness level is still poor.

Conclusion: Based on the findings it was recommended that sex education should be taught in all schools and teachers should come up with modalities of improving sexuality education in schools to ensure students awareness of sexually transmitted infections.

Background: Adolescence is typically a period of experimentation, new experiences, and vulnerability which influences their HIV risk behaviours. Some may out-grow many risk behaviors, yet prevention efforts are needed to reduce the risk of HIV infection during this period. Knowledge about risk is not sufficient for the prevention of HIV risk behavior. This review examines the existing types of education targeted at reducing HIV risk and their application to adolescents for optimal outcome.

Methodology: Keywords from objectives of review were used to search for related literatures through online libraries of national and international journals. Out of 60 related studies initially generated, 38 literatures were selected for review.

Results: School-based health services should ideally be complementary rather than replacement option for the provision of health care services for adolescents. Interventions to improve HIV knowledge and reduce risky sexual behaviour may need to specifically target adolescents. The types of HIV risk reduction education intervention among adolescents is classified into peer-based and health provider-based education. Given the complexity of factors that contribute to risk behavior, prevention efforts that focus exclusively on knowledge are unlikely to be successful. Effective school-based (youth-targeted) HIV prevention programs, which typically rely on principles of social cognitive (Learning) theory could be employed to bridge the gap.

Conclusion and Recommendations: With this in mind, a comprehensive review of the Family life and HIV education (FLHE) programme in Nigerian secondary schools is long overdue.