Seroprevalence of Syphilis among Human Immunodeficiency Virus Positive Individuals Attending Immune Suppressed Syndrome Clinic at International Hospital Kampala, Uganda

Background: Syphilis continues to be a persistent public health challenge and gaining renewed attention against the back drop of HIV pandemic especially in the less developed high HIV stricken countries like Uganda. This study enrolled 150 HIV infected individuals. The objective was to determine the syphilis sero-prevalence and factors associated with syphilis infection among HIV positive individuals attending immune suppressed syndrome (ISS) clinic at International Hospital Kampala -Touch Namuwongo Project (TNP).

Methods/Design: This was a cross sectional study that recruited participants between January and May, 2014. Rapid Plasma Reagin test (RPR; BD Diagnostics) was used to screen for syphilis and if positive was confirmed by the Treponema pallidum Haemagglutination Assay (TPHA; Biotec Laboratories Limited Ipswich Suffolk, UK).

Results: We found 10% (n=15) seroprevalence of syphilis in the HIV positive individuals. Further; gender, age, occupation, marital status, polygamous relationship and education level attained did not show statistically significance association with syphilis infection (p>0.05). This prevalence was slightly higher in males (10.9%) than females (9.6%). The age groups 15-30 and 31-63 years had the highest (73%) and lowest (27%) seroprevalence of syphilis respectively.

Conclusion: Syphilis appears to be common amongst HIV infected individuals studied. We recommend an urgent need to sensitize, screen and treat reproductively and sexually critical age group.