Prevalence of Treponema pallidum Infection among Human Immunodeficiency Virus Seropositive Persons and Their Corresponding CD4 Counts in a Nigerian Cohort

Background: Sexually transmitted infections are a major public health problem especially with the advent of HIV/AIDS. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Syphilis among HIV seropositive persons. The study population was seropositive persons accessing antiretroviral therapy (ART) at the Federal Medical Center Keffi.
Methodology: Venous blood (5ml) was collected from each of the 200 consenting participants between February and August 2010. Their syphilis serostatus was determined using Rapid Plasma Reagin test and confirmed by an immunochromatographic rapid syphilis test kit. The CD4 count of the positive sample was also determined.
Results: Of the 200 persons screened, 56 were males and 144 were females. The prevalence of Treponema pallidum in this study population was 0.5% (1/200). The HIV-syphilis positive was a married man aged 35 years and with a CD4 cell count of ≥ 200 cells/uL.
Conclusion: This study reported a very low prevalence of syphilis among HIV positive persons. It is recommended that the sexual partner(s) of the study index case should be traced and also treated to prevent reinfection and/or continued spread of the infection. Despite the low prevalence in this study, syphilis screening among those with HIV should be advocated routinely to avoid the complications associated with the dual infection.