In the past few years, the interest in STDs and their
management has increased tremendously because of their proven role in
facilitation of HIV infection, which, in turn, also increases the risk of
acquiring STIs. Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are a major health problem
affecting mostly young people, not only in developing, but also in developed
countries Male circumcision is being considered as strategy to reduce the
burden of HIV/AIDS.
(i) To screen the new patients attending the STI clinic for
bacterial causes of STIs (Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae,
Treponema pallidum and Gardnerella vaginalis) and (ii) to evaluate the role of
various risk factors in the prevalence of STIs.
The present study was conducted on 200 patients attending
the STI clinic. They were evaluated for the prevalence of HIV and bacterial
STIs (Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Treponema pallidum and
Gardnerella vaginalis) along with the role of risk factors particularly
circumcision.
The prevalence of HIV was 7% and prevalence of other STI was
20%. The causative agents were Chlamydia 8%, Gonorrhea 7.5%, Bacterial Vaginosis
2.7% and Syphilis 2%.
The factors found to be significantly associated with the
prevalence of STI were circumcision, positive HIV status, education, religion,
multiple sexual partners, contact with Commercial sex workers (CSW), non use of
contraception, profession involving long stay away from home, and past history
of STI. The present study suggests that circumcision is a protective factor for
acquisition of STIs but other factors like sexual behavior, use of barrier
contraceptives, drug abuse etc., also play a role.
Table 2
Sexual behaviors affecting the prevalence of STIs
Table 3
Other factors affecting prevalence of STIs
Below: Distribution of cases with sexually transmitted infections
Below: Demographic factors affecting prevalence of Sexually transmitted infections
By:
1Department of Dermatology, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India
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