THERE HAS been a significant increase in the numbers of pregnant women seeking treatment for sexually transmitted infections in recent years, according to a new study.
An audit of the numbers attending the STD clinic at Limerick's Mid Western Regional Hospital between 1987 and 2004 found 288 women who were close to delivering babies or had just given birth had sought treatment over the period.
Some 60 per cent of the patients were seen at the clinic between the years 2000 and 2004 and almost half of these were non-nationals.
Prior to 2000, only one non-national had attended the clinic.
Dr Mortimer O'Connor, one of the study's authors, noted that most of the non-nationals were referred by the local maternity unit, whereas most Irish-born patients were referred by their GP.
He said it was "surprising that only one pregnant patient came from the asylum- screening programme".
This screening programme is voluntary.
The STDs with which the Irish patients presented differed greatly from their non-Irish counterparts. Some 80 per cent of the diagnoses in Irish women were genital warts, compared to only 11 per cent in non-Irish nationals. Some 0.6 per cent of Irish women presented with HIV, compared to 16 per cent of the non-Irish patients.
Meanwhile, 86 per cent of infections diagnosed in the non- nationals had the potential to be transmitted to their newborn babies, compared to 7.6 per cent of the infections found in the pregnant Irish women attending the clinic.
Dr O'Connor said the study highlighted the importance for doctors of keeping abreast of the range of new diseases presenting at STD clinics and of the need to work together to help to ensure infections weren't transmitted to newborns.
The STD clinic where the audit was conducted covers Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary.
Details of the study are to be published in the International Journal of STDs & AIDS.