ANTENATAL HIV PREVALENCE IN YAOUNDE, CAMEROON

From June 1994 to July 1996, 4100 pregnant women living in Yaounde, Ca meroon, were tested for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) an d syphilis. The HIV seroprevalence was 4.2% (95% confidence interval ( CI): 3.6%-4.8%), and that of antibodies to Treponema pallidum was 17.4 % (95% CI: 16.3%-18.6%) (HN infection was twice as common in women wit h positive syphilis serology) (7.2% vs 3.6%). Over the study period, t he antenatal seroprevalence of syphilis remained stable, while there w as an increase in the HIV seroprevalence rate. There was an increase i n HIV seropositivity in women uninfected with syphilis between 1994/19 95 and 1995/1996 from 2.9% to 4.3%. By the end of the study, HIV infec tion was no commoner in women with negative compared with positive syp hilis serology. It is therefore postulated that HN infection in Yaound e has entered the general, sexually active female population. We sugge st that management of pregnant women in Cameroon should include routin e screening for both HIV infection and other sexually transmitted dise ases (STDs).