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Impact of Gender, Location, and Seasonality on the Prevalence of Gonorrhea and Chlamydia Co-infections in Northern Vietnam

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Abstract

A retrospective cross-sectional description was conducted to investigate co-infection rates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Gonorrhea) and Chlamydia trachomatis (Chlamydia) in patients from Northern Vietnam who visited the Central Dermatology Hospital during 2016–2019 and the factors including gender, age, location, and season that may relate to the co-infection rates. Data of hospital routine diagnostics using rapid tests for chlamydia and Gram staining for gonorrhea for patients with vaginal or urethral discharge syndrome were analysed. Real-time PCR was used to confirm the positive samples. During the 4 year study period, 5937 (0.74%) cases of either mono- or co-infections of gonorrhea and chlamydia were detected among 795,599 visiting patients. Of these cases, 2427 (41.36%) were diagnosed with gonorrhea, 3474 (57.99%) with chlamydia, and 36 (0.65%) with co-infections of gonorrhea and chlamydia. The co-infection rate in women was 4.8-fold higher than that in men (p < 0.0001), and in Hanoi capital, it was 2.3-fold higher than in all other regions in Northern Vietnam (p = 0.018). In terms of seasonality, the highest and lowest co-infection rates were observed in summer (33.33%) and winter (19.41%), respectively. In conclusion, the prevalence of gonorrhea and chlamydia co-infections was comparatively low, with a predominance in women as compared to men, in Hanoi capital than in the remaining areas of Northern Vietnam. Additionally, a higher frequency was observed during the summer season. The data obtained is important in controlling the rate of gonorrhea and chlamydia in Vietnam and contributes valuable insights to the global and Asian epidemic map** of these infections.

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Data and Material Availability

The datasets generated during this current study will be made available at an URL (expected to be https://orcid.org) after the manuscript is accepted.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge colleagues at Central Dermatology Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam, for assistance in data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Central Dermatology Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Van Cam Tran

  2. Department of Dermatology, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Sau Huu Nguyen

  3. Spobio Research Center, ANABIO R&D Ltd. Company, No. 22, Lot 7,8 Van Khe Urban, La Khe, Ha Dong, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Huyen Thi Bui & Anh Thi Van Nguyen

  4. Faculty of Mathematics - Mechanics - Informatics, VNU University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Tung Dinh Pham

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Tran, V.C., Nguyen, S.H., Bui, H.T. et al. Impact of Gender, Location, and Seasonality on the Prevalence of Gonorrhea and Chlamydia Co-infections in Northern Vietnam. Indian J Microbiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-024-01301-x

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