Genital Carriage of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia Trachomatis in Asymptomatic Adults in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Abstract

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are considered to be responsible for a major health and economic burden worldwide with many cases due to Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis. In Ivory Coast, a few information about the burden of bacterial STIs are available. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae in the genital tract of asymptomatic adults with a non-invasive sampling and by using a nucleic acid amplification test. Thus, asymptomatic adults was consecutively recruited during a cross-sectional study conducted from July 2018 to October 2018 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Then, first void urine was collected and tested with the Xpert CT/NG. During the period of study, 439 subjects were tested including 203 (46.2%) male and 236 (53.8%) female. The age of patients ranged from 15 to 84 years with a median of 30 years. Prevalence of N. gonorrhoeae and C. trachomatis were 21/439 (4.8 %) and 3/439 (0.7 %) respectively and in two cases (0.5 %), subjects were infected by both bacterial species. N. gonorrhoeae was only detected in subjects under age 30 with a higher prevalence below the age of 20. Also, neither N. gonorrhoeae, nor C. trachomatis were detected in subjects more than 40 years. The prevalence of N. gonorrhoeae and C. trachomatis were not statistically different between male and female. According to occupation, N. gonorrhoeae was only detected in students and no infection was found in retired, people without any occupation and housewives. The results of this study which was the first one consisting in an active screening of N. gonorrhoeae and C. trachomatis in adults in Ivory Coast showed that these pathogens are present even in asymptomatic people and that young people are at greater risk of being infected.