DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i06.073

Pages: 2452-2455

Syphilis is a chronic sexually transmitted infection diagnosed most commonly by serological methods. The serological methods of diagnosis of syphilis include non-treponemal and treponemal tests. The aim of this study was to assess the specific and non specific tests for syphilis and to know the frequency of biological false positive reactions in patients attending STD OP and the individuals attending the master health checkup. The seroprevalence of syphilis based on VDRL test was 2.54%. The prevalence of syphilis was more in STD clinic attendees 3.69%. Biological false positivity was 0.3% in patients attending STD OP and 0.44% in general population in our study. The Biological false positive reactions were more in the samples with < 1:8 dilutions. From our study, we suggest that VDRL test can be used as a screening test for the diagnosis of syphilis in patients attending STD OP. All the reactive VDRL samples should be confirmed by the treponemal TPHA test to exclude the biological false positive reactions.