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Antenatal screening for syphilis at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria — A six year survey
Author(s) -
Gini P.C.,
Chukudebelu W.O.,
NjokuObi A.N.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/0020-7292(89)90356-1
Subject(s) - medicine , syphilis , incidence (geometry) , obstetrics and gynaecology , obstetrics , teaching hospital , gynecology , pediatrics , family medicine , pregnancy , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , physics , biology , optics , genetics
Between January 1979 and December 1984, 29,083 out of 42,515 antenatal patients booking at the Antenatal Clinic of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, underwent full screening for syphilis. The results showed that 890 patients (3.06%) had positive VDRL test. Of those that reacted positively in the VDRL test, 103 (11.6%) had positive TPHA test. A prevalence rate of sero‐positivity of 0.35% was obtained indicating a low incidence of syphilis in our pregnant women compared with results from other parts of Nigeria. A strong recommendation was made to treat all seropositive cases whether there was historical or clinical confirmation of syphilis or not.