Description
Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B virus and human immunodeficiency virus infection among students in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are endemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence on HBV co-infection rates with HIV infection among individuals remains conflicting. The study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of HBV and HIV infections and the possible potential risk factors among students. The cross-sectional study was conducted between April and August, 2013. Structured questionnaires were administered to obtain socio-demographic data and possible risk factors that might be associated with viral infections. Blood samples were collected at the University Health Services (UHS) from 600 consenting consecutive students aged between 16 and 40 years old. The sera were screened for HBsAg using a device kit and anti-HBs, HBeAg, anti-HBe, and anti-HBc using one-step cassette style diagnostic kits. Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection was screened for using determineTM HIV-1/2 kit. Reactive sera for HBsAg were further confirmed using ELISA kits. Of the 600 students tested for HBsAg, 9.2% (55/600) tested positive among which, none had detectable anti-HBs antibodies, indicating recent infection. About 7.3%, 36.4% and 94.5% were positive for HBeAg, anti-HBe and anti-HBc respectively. The seroprevalence of HIV infection was 2.8% (17/600). One (0.2%) of the students was infected with both HBV and HIV. There was a significant association between age group, gender, family history of the students and HBV infection (P0.016, 0.049 and 0.000 respectively). While for HIV, only menial jobs (p 0.001) were significantly associated with the infection. Other risk factors studied were not significantly associated with viral infections. The seroprevalence of 9.2% for HBsAg obtained in this study indicates high endemicity according to WHO classification. Four of the students were highly infectious..
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