Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Comparison Between Gram Stain And Culture For The Characterization Of Vaginal Microflora: Definition Of A Distinct Grade That Resembles Grade I Microflora And Revised Categorization Of Grade I Microflora, Rita Verhelst, Hans Verstraelen, Geert Claeys, Gerda Verschraegen, Leen Van Simaey, Catharine De Ganck, Ellen De Backer, Marleen Temmerman, Mario Vaneechoutte

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

Background: The microbiological diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis is usually made using Nugent's criteria, a useful but rather laborious scoring system based on counting bacterial cell types on Gram stained slides of vaginal smears. Ison and Hay have simplified the score system to three categories and added a fourth category for microflora with a predominance of the Streptococcus cell type. Because in the Nugent system several cell types are not taken into account for a final score, we carried out a detailed assessment of the composition of the vaginal microflora in relation to standard Gram stain in order the improve the …

Increased Risk Of Hiv In Women Experiencing Physical Partner Violence In Nairobi, Kenya, Karoline Fonck, Leye Els, Nancy Kidula, Jeconiah Ndinya-Achola, Marleen Temmerman

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

As part of a study on etiology of sexually transmitted infections (STI) among 520 women presenting at the STI clinic in Nairobi, data on partner violence and its correlates were analyzed. Prevalence of lifetime physical violence was 26%, mainly by an intimate partner (74%). HIV seropositive women had an almost twofold increase in lifetime partner violence. Women with more risky sexual behavior such as early sexual debut, number of sex partners, history of condom use and of STI, experienced more partner violence. Parity and miscarriage were associated with a history of lifetime violence. We found an inverse association between schooling …

Comparison Of Pap Smear, Visual Inspection With Acetic Acid, Human Papillomavirus Dna-Pcr Testing And Cervicography, H De Vuyst, Patricia Claeys, S Njiru, L Muchiri, Sophia Steyaert, Petra De Sutter, E Van Marck, J Bwayo, Marleen Temmerman

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, East Africa

Objective: To assess the test qualities of four screening methods to detect cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia in an urban African setting.

Method: Six hundred fiftythree women, attending a family planning clinic in Nairobi (Kenya), underwent four concurrent screening methods: pap smear, visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), PCR for high risk human papillomavirus (HR HPV) and cervicography. The presence of cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN) was verified by colposcopy or biopsy.

Result: Sensitivity (for CIN2 or higher) and specificity (to exclude any CIN or cancer) were 83.3% (95% CI [73.6, 93.0]) and 94.6% (95% CI [92.6, 96.5]), respectively, for pap smear; 73.3% …