Abstract
Syphilis is one of the sexually transmitted infections caused by bacteria known as Treponema pallidum and it is transmitted through sexual contact, via blood transfusion, or transplacentally from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Among STIs, syphilis and HIV are significant public health problems in Ethiopia and causes several adverse pregnancy outcomes. Thus this study aims to assess magnitude of both infections among pregnant women attending antenatal care. Facility based retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in Debre Berhan public health institutions and data was collected using pretested checklist. Finally data was entered to EPI Data3.02 and analyzed using SPSS version21. P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant difference. Among the total participants, 179 (47%) were in the age group of 25-34 years, 220 (57%) were living in urban settings and majority 256 (67%) of the pregnant mothers were married. The overall prevalence of syphilis and HIV in pregnant mothers were 7 (1.8%) and 28 (7.2%) respectively. The highest number of syphilis and HIV prevalence were reported in 2015. Previous history of STD for syphilis (AOR 9.4; 95% CI 1.6-25) and HIV (AOR 8.2; 95% CI 2.2-31.8), previous history of still birth for syphilis (AOR 4.9; 95% CI 1.1-23.4) and HIV (AOR 5.6; 95% CI 1.8-17.1) and partner HIV test positive for HIV (AOR 11.9; 95%CI 1.18-20.6) are risk factor. The result shows syphilis and HIV infections were prevalent among pregnant women, indicating that they are still significant public health problems. Therefore, there should be health education for every pregnant woman regarding prevention of the two infection and partner testing is recommended.
Highlights
Transmitted infections (STIs) are an emerging public health concern, especially in developing countries ([13])
A genital ulcerative disease caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum, is associated with significant complications if left untreated and can facilitate the transmission and acquisition of HIV infection ([4,5,6])
The prevalence of syphilis in this study was higher in rural (3.1%) than urban (0.9%) which goes in line with the national ANC sentinel survey of Ethiopia in 2009 (6.7%) in rural and (4.7%) from urban setting [19]
Summary
Transmitted infections (STIs) are an emerging public health concern, especially in developing countries ([13]). A genital ulcerative disease caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum, is associated with significant complications if left untreated and can facilitate the transmission and acquisition of HIV infection ([4,5,6]). Both Syphilis and HIV are transmitted through sexual contact, with infectious lesions of the mucous membranes or abraded skin, via blood transfusion, or in utero by transplacental passage from a pregnant woman to her fetus ([7, 8]). The biological explanation for enhanced susceptibility to HIV among individuals infected with syphilis is based on the theory that the break down in mucosal integrity due to ulceration
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