Prevalence and Determinants of Anogenital Colonization by Group B Streptococcus Infection Among HIV Positive and Negative Women in Calabar, Nigeria

Despite significant global decline in neonatal mortality, the rates are still unacceptably high in sub-Saharan African countries. One of the common and preventable causes of neonatal mortality is neonatal infection with group B streptococcus (GBS) microorganism. This study aims to determine the prevalence of anogenital colonization by GBS bacteria among HIV positive women, factors influencing colonization and the antimicrobial sensitivity in women attending antenatal clinic in our center.
This was a prospective study conducted at the antenatal clinics of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Calabar. A total of 84 eligible and consented HIV positive women and 84 HIV negative women that were within 35 to 37 weeks of gestational age matched for age and parity were studied.
Eighteen subjects tested positive to GBS infection with overall prevalence of 10.7%. However, 13 (15.5%) subjects with HIV infection tested positive to GBS infection and that was significantly higher compared with 5 (6.0%) among women without HIV infection. The prevalence of GBS infection was significantly higher among subjects with primary education (54.5%). Among HIV positive subject, there was significantly higher prevalence of GBS infection among concordant couples compared to discordant couples (P = 0.04). Most of the subjects were sensitive to ceftriaxone (88.9%) and erythromycin (72.2%), and drug sensitivity was least with ampicillin (16.7%).
Anogenital colonization with GBS is high among pregnant women in our center and significantly higher among HIV infected subjects. Preventive approach to GBS colonization is a worthy measure and there is need to institute GBS screening among high risk pregnancies such as HIV infected women.