Bacterial vaginosis in female sex workers in Chennai, India

Shanmugasundaram Uma, Pachamuthu Balakrishnan, Kailapuri G. Murugavel, Aylur K. Srikrishnan, Nagalingeswaran Kumarasamy, Jebaraj A. Cecelia, Santhanam Anand, Kenneth H. Mayer, David Celentano, Sadras P. Thyagarajan, Suniti Solomon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) causes obstetric and gynaecological complications and non-chlamydial/non-gonococcal pelvic inflammatory disease and has been shown to be associated with the risk of acquiring HIV and herpes simplex (HSV)-2 infections. This study investigated both the prevalence of BV and its association with STDs among 582 female sex workers living in Chennai, South India. Blood, vaginal and endocervical swabs were tested for HSV-2, HIV Treponema pallidum, BV, Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoea and Trichomonas vaginalis. The vaginal swabs collected were Gram's stained and analysed for BV by Nugent's scoring criteria. Of the women studied, 45% (95% CI, 40.6-48.7) were positive, 39.5% (95% CI, 35.5-43.5) were negative and 16% (95% CI, 12.8-18.7) were intermediate for BV Bacterial vaginosis positivity was directly related to concurrent infection with HSV-2 (RR 1.3, AR 12, P = 0.00), T. vaginalis (RR 1.5, AR 10, P = 0.01) T. pallidum (RR 2.8, AR 16, P= 0.00) and HIV (RR4.1, AR 52, P= 0.01). Future studies are needed to focus on the risk factors for BV.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)261-262
Number of pages2
JournalSexual Health
Volume2
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Infectious Diseases

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