Screening of syphilis in abroad job seeking healthy males

Abstract

This study was carried out to find out the prevalence of syphilis is healthy male populations. Test for Syphilis is mandatory for those who apply for overseas employment, especially in Middle East countries. From randomly selected Nepalese male population (16-50 years) seeking jobs abroad, 2585 blood samples were collected and tested by nontreponemal test, the Rapid Plasma Reagin test and by treponemal test, the Treponema pallidum haemagglutination test. Confirmed cases of syphilis were 22 (0.85%). No association of syphilis with any age groups (χ2 = 6.6465, P>0.05) and development regions were observed (χ2 = 1.8782, P>0.05). Syphilis occurrence was almost equal in terai (0.94%) and hilly region (0.9%) and was none in mountainous region showing no association (χ2 = 1.5334, P>0.05). In eastern development region, all the cases were from terai region showing significantly greater occurrence of syphilis in terai region (χ2 = 4.334, P<0.05). In the contrary, all the cases of syphilis in mid-western development region were from hilly region, however this finding was not statistically significant (χ2 = 0.5497, P>0.05). Asymptomatic stage of syphilis may lead to tertiary syphilis; hence, People should be educated about the disease; they should be screened and treated when required.