HIGH TREPONEMAL SEROPREVALENCE AMONG ADULT HOSPITALIZED-PATIENTS IN TULEAR, MADAGASCAR

The study aims to determine syphilis And Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) seroprevalence rates among adult hospitalizeispatients in Tulear , Madagascar. In a cross-sectional study, sera from all adult inpatien ts at the Tulear hospital were screened using rapid plasma reagin; rea ctive sera were confirmed using Treponema pallidum hemagglutination. A ll sera were also tested for HIV antibodies by enzyme immunosorbent as say and reactive specimens were confirmed by Western blot. Age, sex, a nd clinical information were collected from patient charts. Overall, 3 6 (24.5%) of 147 hospitalised patients were found to be syphilis seror eactive, one patient (0.7%) had HIV antibodies. Syphilis was mentioned on the patient charts of only three (8.3%) of the 36 syphilis serorea ctive individuals; they were all three diagnosed with neurosyphilis. E leven (15.9%) of the 69 female hospitalized patieiss were syphilis ser oreactive compared to 25 (32.0%) of 78 men (OR:0.4; p=0.03). The high treponemal seroprevalence found among hospitalizedspatients illustrate s the mostly unrecognized disease burden in the Malagasy society. Effe ctive syphilis control measures are urgently needed to decrease relate d morbidity and mortality and as a preventive HIV control strategy.