Trichomonas vaginalis AND HIV INFECTION: RELATION AND PREVALENCE AMONG WOMEN IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL

Abstract

Trichomoniasis is a curable sexually transmitted infection (STI) that has been reported\xa0to be linked to exposure to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), although few studies\xa0have described this association. The purpose of this study was to focus on the incidence of\xa0trichomoniasis in low-income women, its relation to HIV status, viral load levels and TCD4+\xa0cell counts, among other risk factors, using an in vitro culture as a diagnostic test. A crosssectional study among 267 women (103 HIV-positive and 164 HIV-negative) was conducted in\xa02015. The overall prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) infection was 6.4%. Among HIVpositive and HIV-negative women, the prevalence was 3.9% and 7.9%, respectively, yet these\xa0results were not statistically different (p=0.1878). The factors associated with TV infection\xa0were cigarette smoking (OR= 3.52), vaginal itching (OR=4.43) and bacterial vaginosis (BV)\xa0(OR= 5.29). HIV status, TCD4+\xa0cell count and viral load were not associated with TV infection\xa0in this group. The prevalence rates found, lower than those observed in other studies, may be\xa0due to the fact that the women evaluated in the present study are part of a low-risk populationas well as the limited sample size of HIV positive women.