Prevalence of Reproductive Tract Infections and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in central rural Area of Yavatmal District, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Background: Reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) are increasingly recognized as a major cause of morbidity in India. RTI have become widespread today because of the changing social fabric and unconventional sexual behaviors. The present study was done to assess the prevalence of RTI and STD in rural Area of Yavatmal District.

Methods: The study enrolled total 14,597 patients, who were attending tertiary care center with syndromes of RTIs during the period of Jan 2012- Dec 2016. Different laboratory methods and techniques were applied to identify the possible microorganisms. Data were collected in excel sheet and frequency of various RTIs were determined.

Results: Prevalence of RTI / STD symptoms during the 5 years of study period was found to be 35.11% and 64.88% among males and females, respectively. The overall prevalence of RTI was found to be 96.12% (14031 patients) with maximum prevalence of 98.08% in the age group 25-44 years. The most common symptom was vaginal/cervical discharge (VCD) (76.81%) among females and urethral discharge (UD) (14.89%) among males. Lower abdominal pain was reported by 13.62%; complaint of genital ulcer reported in 8.55%, inguinal bubo in 0.16%, others symptoms i.e. general itching / Scabies / molluscum etc. In 21.88% and none complained of genital wart. The Rapid Plasma Reagin test and ELISA test was positive in 0.45% and 0.24% of patients respectively.

Conclusion: It was found that the prevalence of RTI/STD symptoms was high in women than men in rural Area of Yavatmal District. With the prevailing burden of RTIs, it is important to create awareness and to health educate all women and men to reduce increasing trend of RTIs.