Sexually transmitted infections in women in a rural hospital in Sierra Leone: a retrospective database study.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to determine the frequency of sexually transmitted infections among women of reproductive age in a rural hospital in Sierra Leone.

METHODS

This retrospective cross-sectional database study included vaginal and endocervical swabs from 104 women of childbearing age (March 2023-March 2024) in Masanga Teaching Hospital, rural Sierra Leone. Samples were screened by loop-mediated isothermal amplification (eazyplex STD complete) for Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Mycoplasma hominis, Mycoplasma genitalium, and Treponema pallidum. Demographic and medical data were obtained from medical records.

RESULTS

The median age was 26 years (range: 21-33 years). HIV status was available for 84 women, of whom nine (11%) were HIV-positive. Of the 75 women with clinical information available, 73 (97%) were symptomatic. Vaginal discharge (n = 66 of 75, 88%) was the most frequently reported symptom. Tests were positive for at least one target organism in the test panel in 54 of 104 cases (52%). M. hominis was most often detected (n = 47 of 104, 45%), followed by U. urealyticum (n = 18 of 104, 17%) and N. gonorrhoeae (n = 3 of 104, 3%), whereas C. trachomatis and T. pallidum were positive in one (1%) sample each. M. genitalium was not detected.

CONCLUSIONS

The detection of obligate sexually transmitted infections pathogens (i.e. C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae, T. pallidum; n = 5 of 104, 5%) was rare in our study population and setting.