New study shows that taking an antimalarial during pregnancy could prevent STIs
Results of the study by researchers at the London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine found that sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine, a medicine recommended
during antenatal care visit for intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp) of
malaria in pregnant women in malaria-endemic areas could cut the risk of
getting STIs such as gonorrhoea,
chlamydia, trichomoniasis, and bacterial vaginosis.
The study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases last month (2 March), was conducted between November 2013 and April 2014 in Nchelenge District of Zambia.
According to the study, women who had two or more doses of IPTp-SP, compared to zero to one dose, had their risk of contracting malaria reduced by 76 per cent, while the risk of getting gonorrhoea or chlamydia was reduced by 94 per cent.
The researchers also found that women who received two or more IPTp-SP doses, compared to zero to one dose, had their risk of experiencing stillbirth, low birthweight, preterm delivery or intrauterine growth retardation cut by 45 per cent.
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