Syphilis sero-positivity in recently admitted and long inpatients : screening, prevalence and diagnostic profile

dc.contributor.authorHenning, M.P.
dc.contributor.authorKruger, Christa
dc.contributor.authorFletcher, Lizelle
dc.contributor.emailchrista.kruger@up.ac.zaen_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-01-31T13:17:27Z
dc.date.available2013-01-31T13:17:27Z
dc.date.issued2012-12
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND: Syphilis research has neglected the prevalence of the disease among psychiatric patients, and traditional syphilis screening has been reported as inadequate. OBJECTIVES: (i) To assess the syphilis prevalence among psychiatric patients; (ii) to compare psychiatric diagnoses of syphilis-infected and -uninfected patients; (iii) to assess self-reported high-risk sexual behaviour; (iv) to establish syphilis/HIV co-morbidity; and (v) to investigate the performance of the rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test in syphilis screening, compared with the Treponema pallidum haemagglutination (TPHA) test. METHODS: Psychiatric inpatients at Weskoppies Hospital, Pretoria, who consented to participate in the study (N=195) were categorised according to gender and length of admission (long-term or recent). Non-treponemal RPR, confirmatory TPHA, HIV-rapid and HIV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests were performed. A reactive TPHA test was used to diagnose syphilis. RESULTS: The estimated prevalence of syphilis was 11.7%. There was no significant association between TPHA sero-positivity and primary psychiatric diagnosis or self-reported high-risk sexual behaviour. Significant co-morbidity existed between syphilis and HIV (p=0.012). Compared with the TPHA test, the RPR test performed poorly, identifying only 2/23 patients who had a sero-positive TPHA test (8.7% sensitivity and 100% specificity). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of syphilis was higher than anticipated, supporting the need for routine testing. The significant co-morbidity and alarming prevalence of HIV and syphilis warrant testing for both conditions in all psychiatric admissions. Current syphilis screening with a single RPR test is inadequate; both RPR and TPHA tests should be performed.en_US
dc.description.librarianay2013en
dc.description.librarianam2013en
dc.description.librarianay2013en
dc.description.sponsorshipThe Research Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoriaen_US
dc.description.urihttp://www.sajp.org.za/index.php/sajpen_US
dc.identifier.citationHenning, MP, Kruger, C & Fletcher, L 2012, 'Syphilis sero-positivity in recently admitted and long inpatients : screening, prevalence and diagnostic profile', South African Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 171-175.en_US
dc.identifier.issn1608-9685 (print)
dc.identifier.issn2078-6786 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.7196/SAJP.358
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/20920
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherHealth and Medical Publishing Groupen_US
dc.rightsHealth and Medical Publishing Groupen_US
dc.subjectPsychiatric inpatientsen_US
dc.subjectSyphilisen_US
dc.subject.lcshMental health services -- South Africaen
dc.subject.lcshSyphilis -- Diagnosis -- South Africaen
dc.titleSyphilis sero-positivity in recently admitted and long inpatients : screening, prevalence and diagnostic profileen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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