Abstract
BackgroundSyphilis, a known major public health issue for soldiers during periods of conflict, is exacerbated in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to widespread sexual violence. However, there has been no previous study to determine the extent of this problem. Therefore, we determined the prevalence of syphilis among young demobilized soldiers.MethodsScreening of syphilis using the rapid plasma reagin test and the Treponema pallidum hemagglutination assay was conducted in three transit sites of soldier reintegration in 2005. The Fisher Exact probability test was used to compare results.ResultsThe prevalence of syphilis was found to be 3.4%, with almost equal distribution in respect to sex, location.ConclusionSyphilis continues to be highly prevalent in demobilized child soldiers in Eastern Congo. Syphilis screening tests are recommended.
Highlights
Syphilis, a known major public health issue for soldiers during periods of conflict, is exacerbated in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to widespread sexual violence
Syphilis serostatus was determined by the rapid plasma reagin (Lampole Laboratories, Princeton, NJ., USA) test and the Treponema pallidum hemagglutination assay (Serodia1-TPHA; Fujirebio Inc., Tokyo, Japan), according to the manufacturers’ instructions
The distribution of syphilis serology results did not show any difference in terms of residence location (p = 0.9049), sex of participants (p = 0.2341), but there was a difference between the age ranges (p < 0.0001) (Table 2)
Summary
A known major public health issue for soldiers during periods of conflict, is exacerbated in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to widespread sexual violence. Syphilis and to some extent other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a major public health issue for soldiers during periods of conflict. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo), these have been exacerbated by widespread sexual violence. During World Wars I and II and subsequent armed conflicts throughout the world, syphilis has played an unprecedented role in soldier morbidity [1]. The Congo, with almost two decades of armed conflicts, is characterized by widespread sexual violence [2,3]. In the Congo and other African countries, recruitment of child soldiers has been largely practiced despite its war-crime characterization as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court [4]
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