Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) History among Sexually Active Youth During Papillomavirus Infection in the Republic of Congo
Roch Bredin BISSALA NKOUNKOU
*
Pathogens, Epidemiology and Clinical Trials Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Douala, Republic of Cameroon, Faculty of Health Sciences, Marien Ngouabi University, Republic of Congo and Medical Biology Laboratory, Djiri General Hospital, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
Estelle Géraldine ESSANGUI SAME
Pathogens, Epidemiology and Clinical Trials Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Douala, Republic of Cameroon.
Loick Pradel KOJOM FOKO
Center for Expertise and Research in Applied Biology (CERBA), Douala, Cameroon.
Austin Mas NGOULOU NTSIBA
National Onchocerciasis Control Programme, Ministry of Health and Population, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
Elisée EMBOLO ENYEGUE
Center for Research in Health and Priority Diseases, Yaoundé, Republic of Cameroon.
Luc Magloire Anicet BOUMBA
Faculty of Health Sciences, Marien Ngouabi University, Republic of Congo, Pointe-Noire Research Zone, Institut National de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, Republic of Congo and Microbiology and Molecular Biology Department, Loandjili General Hospital, Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo.
Fabien Roch NIAMA
Faculty of Science and Technology, Marien Ngouabi University, Republic of Congo and National Public Health Laboratory, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
Carole Else EBOUMBOU MOUKOKO
Pathogens, Epidemiology and Clinical Trials Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Douala, Republic of Cameroon and Yaoundé Pasteur Centre, Republic of Cameroon.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The present study was conduct a study to correlate Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), which are caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites, with exposure to HPV infection. Papillomavirus infection is the most wide spread Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) in young women. The literature reports that in 80% of cases, this STI is eliminated naturally by the body: this is known as viral clearance. However, in the remaining 20% of cases, the infection persists and can lead to cervical cancer 10 or even 30 years after primary infection. This persistence is due to several risk factors, including other sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) such as chlamydia, mycoses and so on. So, in the absence of data on HPV, STIs and young people, and to develop a sound policy to combat human papillomavirus infection, we conducted a prospective, analytical study of sexually active young women living in the Republic of Congo, in general, secondary schools in the cities of Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville. Of the 260 girls surveyed, only 198 aged between 15 and 25 had given their approval for the study. The average age of our study was reported to be 19 years. We observed that 64.14% of our study population had early sexual intercourse, with only 33.3% using contraceptive methods. The prevalence of previous STIs was estimated at 64.6%, with mycoses predominating (73.4%), followed by chlamydia (15.6%). There was an association between contraceptive use and STIs (p=0.003). Girls with single or cohabiting parents were 3 to 4 times more likely to contract an STI than those with married parents. Molecular analysis reported a 45.45% prevalence of HPV carriage. We noted that girls whose parents were cohabiting were 3 times more likely to carry HPV than those whose parents were married. There was no association between STI history and HPV carriage. These results underline the importance of practicing IEC with sexually active young women in order to prevent the risk of exposure to STIs and minimize the contraction of STIs in general and HPV in particular.
Keywords: Prevalence, STI history, sexually active young people, HPV infection, Republic of Congo