Journal of Applied Biosciences (J. Appl. Biosci.) [ISSN 1997 - 5902]
Volume 28: 1731 - 1735. Published April 8, 2010.
Prevalence of Treponema pallidum specific antibodies among sexually active attendees of Fereprod Medical Centre in Abuja, Nigeria
*Sule W.F, ^**2Okonko I.O. , *** Sunday A., **** Adewale O.G., *****,******Amande J.T., .*******Babalola E.T, ********Abubakar M.J.
*Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Osun State University, PMB 4494, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria; **Department of Virology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, UCH, Ibadan, Nigeria; ***Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Kogi State University, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria; ****Department of Biochemistry, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ikene, Ogun State, Nigeria; *****Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria; ******Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, University of Uyo, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria; *******Department of Microbiology, College of Applied and Natural Sciences, Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State, Nigeria; ********Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger, Nigeria
Corresponding author email: mac2finney@yahoo.com;ABSTRACT
Objective: To study the prevalence of Treponema pallidum specific antibodies among sexually active attendees of Fereprod Medical Centre, Abuja, Nigeria; and to establish association or lack thereof between anti-T. Pallidum seropositivity and patients' risk factors.
Methodology and results: Selected sexually active patients attending Fereprod Medical Centre, Abuja were screened for T. Pallidum specific antibodies with the aim of determining the antibody prevalence. One hundred and fifty patients (all randomly selected: 65 males and 85 females) were screened with ultra rapid assay test kit following blood collection. Of the 150 samples tested, 29(19.3%) were positive for the anti-T pallidum antibodies, giving an overall prevalence of 19.3%. Except gender and history of blood transfusion, other risk factors such as occupation, number of sexual partners, history of STDs and in particular syphilis were statistically associated (P < 0.05) with T. Pallidum antibody positivity.
Conclusion and application of findings: Based on the results, it was concluded that enlightenment of sexually active people should be intensified regarding STDs, and that prompt and proper treatment of syphilis should be done after diagnosis.
Key words: Treponema pallidum, Antibodies, STDs, Sexually active, Nigeria,
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