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Need for syphilis screening and counselling in HIV counselling and testing centres: A curtain raiser study from north India
Author(s) -
Nag Vijaya Lakshmi,
Dash Nihar Ranjan,
Pathak Ashutosh,
Agarwal Surendra Kumar
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
australian journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.48
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1440-1584
pISSN - 1038-5282
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1584.2009.01045.x
Subject(s) - syphilis , medicine , treponema , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , population , family medicine , cohort study , obstetrics , environmental health
Background: Voluntary counselling and testing centres (VCTC) are important HIV screening points for the population with suspicion or apprehension for HIV, because of high‐risk exposures. Theoretically, these are also at the risk of having co‐infections, commonest being syphilis. The present short‐term study was aimed at knowing the sero‐reactivity of syphilis among a study cohort attending the VCTC in King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India.Method: During a 2.5‐month period, 49 HIV‐positive and 171 HIV‐negative sera were tested for venereal disease research laboratory (VDRL). The positive sera were further tested for treponema pallidum haemagglutination (TPHA).Result: Eleven (22.4%) HIV‐positive sera and 104 (60.8%) HIV‐negative sera were VDRL‐reactive ( ≥ 1:8 dilutions). Of these, TPHA was reactive in three (27.3%) and four (3.9%), respectively. Conclusion: The result might suggest the need for routine screening and counselling for syphilis at VCTC. Studies from other centres on larger population are required.