Seroprevalence and incidence of genital ulcer infections in a rural Ugandan population

Objectives: To determine age-sex specific seroprevalence and incidence rates of Treponema pallidum, Haemophilus ducreyi, and HSV-2; to assess the association between HIV-1 status and incidence of these STIs; and HSV-2 serostatus with number of lifetime sexual partners. Methods: Antibodies against HIV-1, T pallidum, H ducreyi, and HSV-2 infections were tested using approximately 1000 paired (2 year interval) sera collected from a rural adult (15-54 years) population cohort in south west Uganda. Results: Overall HIV-1 prevalence was 4.9%. Prevalence for T pallidum was 12.9% among males and 12.6% among females. The corresponding rates for H ducreyi were 9.8% and 7.3% respectively. HSV-2 prevalence rates were considerably lower in males (36.0%) than in females (71.5%), p 0.4). HSV-2 prevalence was associated with number of lifetime sexual partners (females, p=0.003; males, p=0.08). Conclusions: The results have provided a reliable estimate of the magnitude of the STI problem and demonstrated an association between HIV-1 status and serology of other STIs in a general rural population in sub-Saharan Africa. The study has also highlighted a correlation between HSV-2 seropositivity and number of reported lifetime sexual partners