Sexually transmitted diseases in Zimbabwe: a qualitative analysis of factors associated with choice of a health care facility.

Background: The control of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) through rapid and effective treatment is critical in reducing the transmission of HIV infection. This is only possible when STD patients access appropriate STD care services.

Objectives: To examine factors associated with choice of STD health care facility in Zimbabwe.

Risk factors for gonococcal and chlamydial cervical infection in pregnant and non-pregnant women in Zimbabwe.

Objective: To identify demographic, behavioural and clinical characteristics of symptomatic and asymptomatic women with gonococcal and/or chlamydial cervicitis a study was conducted among women attending antenatal clinics and primary care clinics in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Design: Cross sectional study.

Setting: Primary care clinics and antenatal clinics in Harare.

Antimicrobial resistance in gonococci isolated from patients and from commercial sex workers in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The objective is to compare antibiotic resistance amongst gonococci isolated from different patient groups in Harare, Zimbabwe. Antimicrobial susceptibilities of Neisseria. gonorrhoeae were determined by disc sensitivity tests.

Reduced semen quality and risk behaviour amongst men consulting a referral STD clinic.

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and infertility are public health challenges that continue to represent a high demand and costly adult medical care conditions in most developing countries. Few studies address strategies for prevention of infertility secondary to STDs through behavioural change and early and prompt STD treatment. A prospective cohort design was used to study the effects of urogenital infection on semen quality in consenting consecutive subjects that presented with chronic or recurrent sexually transmitted diseases.

Genital infections in women attending a genito-urinary clinic in Harare, Zimbabwe.

One hundred women attending a sexually transmitted diseases clinic in Harare were examined for presenting features and genital infections. The most common presenting symptoms were of discharge, lower abdominal pain and dysuria, and on examination signs of discharge, inflammation, haemorrhage or ulcers/erosions were noticeable in all women. Fourteen women had genital warts.

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Harare, Zimbabwe. Relationship to serogroup.

The authors investigated one hundred fifty-four isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae obtained from men, women, and infants in Harare, Zimbabwe, for in vitro susceptibility to various antibiotics and for reactivity with serogrouping antisera. The authors found sixty-four (42%) isolates to be WI serogroup and 90 (58%) to be WII/III. One hundred three isolates were penicillinase-producing N.

Clinical and laboratory characteristics of HIV-1 infection in Zimbabwe.

To define the impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in Africa, clinical and laboratory investigations were conducted on 265 HIV-seropositive outpatients in Zimbabwe. Twenty-four of the study subjects were asymptomatic (ASX), 124 had persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL), and 117 had AIDS-related complex (ARC). HIV infection was assessed by commercial ELISA, Western blots, synthetic peptide ELISA, and measurement of p24 antigen.

Genital ulcers and transmission of HIV among couples in Zimbabwe.

Seventy-five married men found to be positive for HIV-1 in Harare, Zimbabwe, were interviewed in order to define behaviours associated with acquisition of infection and to determine factors associated with transmission of infection to their wives. The majority of infected men reported sexual intercourse with multiple heterosexual partners and female prostitutes, and gave a history of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). All subjects denied homosexual activity and parenteral drug abuse.

Management of gonococcal ophthalmia neonatorum with single-dose kanamycin and ocular irrigation with saline.

Two hundred nineteen neonates with gonococcal ophthalmia neonatorum, including 40 infected with penicillinase-producing strains, were treated as outpatients with a single intramuscular injection of 100 mg of kanamycin and hourly ocular irrigation with saline. Neisseria gonorrhoeae was isolated from three (1.4%) of the 212 babies attending for follow-up, and post-gonococcal conjunctivitis developed in 22 (10.

Urethral trichomoniasis in men.

Three hundred twenty-five men with confirmed urethral trichomoniasis were seen at sexually transmitted diseases clinics in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1983-1984. The mean age of these patients was 30.4 years.

Treatment of infection due to penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae with oral thiamphenicol and with oral lymecycline.

Seventy-five men with gonococcal urethritis were treated with a single oral dose of thiamphenicol, and 88 men with this infection were treated with two 1.5-g oral doses of lymecycline taken 12 hr apart. Of the 75 subjects treated with thiamphenicol, 72 (96%) were cured, as compared with 80 (91%) treated with lymecycline.