Seroprevalence of Syphilis among Patients Attending Antenatal Care & Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Clinics in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Northern India

Background - Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) transmitted primarily through sexual intercourse, can also be transmitted in utero, the other less common modes being blood transfusion and contaminated needles among intravenous drug users. It is characterized by episodes of active disease, interrupted by latency. Congenital syphilis poses a significant challenge especially because infants may be still born, asymptomatic or present with a variable clinical picture at birth. Syphilis has been implicated in increasing susceptibility to HIV infection as well. We under took this study to determine the seroprevalence of syphilis in pregnant women attending ANC and patients attending STD clinic in a tertiary care hospital of Northern India. Material & Method - Of the total 10100 samples received during 1.5years (1st January 2014 to 30th June 2015), VDRL was performed on 10100 samples. Results 63 (0.62 %) were found to be positive by VDRL. The patients positive for syphilis included 42 pregnant females (0.88 % of the females from ANC clinic), 21 were from STD clinic (3.8 % of the samples received from STD clinic). Conclusions - Although the seroprevalence is low in ANC clinic, the higher syphilis seroprevalence in STD clinic in this study suggests that acceleration of direct linkages between STI testing and counselling will be useful in enhancing the control of STI in India.