[Prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection, hepatitis B virus and syphilis in full term pregnancy]

Background: The estimation of the frequency of infection by HIV, hepatitis B virus and syphilis in unselected populations of full-term pregnancy is useful for epidemiologic surveillance of these diseases and for decision marking in prenatal detection.
Methods: A transversal study of 3,193 women who gave birth in the Hospital General de Elche between March 1989 and February 1990 was carried out. A blind survey was developed to avoid ethic problems and bias derived from the undertaking of HIV test without patient consent.
Results: The prevalence of HIV was 0.5/1,000 women (CI 95%, 0-1.5); HBV 8.9/1,000 (CI 95%, 4.6-13.2) and syphilis 1.5/1,000 (CI 95%, 0.9-2.1).
Conclusions: The diffusion of the AIDS epidemic in Spain to the general population does not at present seems important although studies should be performed in the future to monitor the trend. The prevalence of syphilis in Spain is low in this study in comparison with the results of other Spanish studies which may be explained by greater quality of care in to pregnancy. The prevalence of HBV suggests the need for detection and vaccination of newborns.