title: Seroprevalence of venereal disease among pregnant women attending antenatal care (ANC) in Onitsha, Anambra State, Southeast, Nigeria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Venereal Syphilis if not properly and timely treated has been noted to have devastating effects on the fetus and baby. Of all the sexually transmitted infections, however, venereal syphilis is one of the most commonly screened among antenatal women. This screening is usually limited to the tertiary institutions thereby leaving the women who attend private hospitals to a disadvantage.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This current research is to determine the seroprevalence of venereal disease among women attending ANC in an Onitsha specialist private hospital and to ascertain the acceptability, and the feasibility of conducting the screening in a private setup.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross sectional prospective study was conducted among women, who were on their first ANC visit at Grace Specialist Hospital, Nkpor, Southeast Nigeria. They were offered VDRL test by ELISA method and TPHA confirmation test to those who were seropositive to VDRL test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two thousand nine hundred and ninety six women attended antenatal care during the study period but 1393 women took part in this study giving an uptake rate of 46.5%. The seroprevalence rate to venereal syphilis was 0.6%. Three out of the 8 seropositive results were confirmed with TPHA test. This gives a TPHA/VDRL ratio of 0.43. The highest range of occurrence was 25 29years. There was neither a significant association between age distribution and VDRL screening result (chi2 = 1.13; df =5; p = 0.951) nor between parity distribution and VDRL screening result (chi2 = 6.2; df = 6; p = 0.4007). Although the seroprevalence of venereal syphilis is low but routine universal screening of Venereal syphilis is possible in private hospitals and its establishment should be encouraged.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria. Kensunny30@yahoo.co.uk
authors.forename: S U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Mbamara
authors.forename: N J A
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Obiechina
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013587:Syphilis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013588:Syphilis Serodiagnosis / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult