Overview of Prevalence of Syphilis in a Health Facility in Rivers State

Syphilis is one of the sexually transmitted diseases that is prevalent in developing countries and is of public health importance. Among pregnant women, it is reported to cause foetal defects if not treated. This study was thus carried out to determine the prevalence of syphilis among pregnant women visiting a health facility in Rivers State. Records of 482 pregnant women who visited the health facility within January and December 2018 were reviewed after obtaining due consent from the relevant authority. The sensitivity rate of the RPR test was higher than the THPA test, however the THPA has been found to be more specific. A prevalence rate of 2.28% was reported among the samples collected. The women who tested positive had little or no formal education which may have contributed to low knowledge of the disease. Intensive public health awareness on the means of transmission, symptoms, signs and effects of contracting the disease, especially among pregnant womenshould be carried out. Also, robust screening should be carried out at the community level in order to have proper record of the number of persons infected. Rapid test kits that are reliable should be made available also.Original Research Article

Correlates between HIV/AIDS Antibody with some Immuno-Hematological Variables of Infected Subjects in Niger Delta Communities.

The study tend to uncover the epidemiological trend and association of HIV/AIDS with some immuno-hematological profile of infected subjects in Niger Delta. A total of 1000 subjects, made up of 464 males (46.4%) and 536 females (53.6%) were screened. HIV antibodies were detected using "Determine" (Abbott Laboratories, Japan), Start –Pak (Chembio Diagnostics, USA) and SD Bioline HIV-1/2 kits (Standard Diagnostics, Korea).Out of this number, 107(10.7%) were sero-positive. The PCV of HIV positive subjects ranged between 24.00 and 48.00% (32.94±0.53),HB ranged between 8.00 and 16.00g/dl (10.95± 0.18) while WBC counts ranged between 3.30 and 16.30 Mm3(7.76 ±0.30). However, CD4 counts ranged between 210.00 and 937.00μl, with a mean of 480.55 (±13.44). At P<0.01; the PCV correlated positively with HB(r=0.999) and negatively with WBC (r = -0.303), while HB correlated negatively with WBC(r=-0.306). Conversely, CD4 counts did not correlate with any of the parameters. The need for frequent monitoring of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the immunological profile of infected groups in Niger Delta is strongly encourage. This will prevent anemia and other hematological problems.