Assessment of HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is crucial to detect HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis coinfection and the strategy for infection management and treatment. This study assessed the proportion of students with HIV, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis coinfection. Two hundred and thirty five university students in Port Harcourt, Nigeria were recruited, ages 16 to 39 years. Samples of blood were collected and processed using standard laboratory procedures. All the students were screened for antibodies to HIV using 2 rapid screening strips and a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based kit for determination of HIV-1/2/P24/O. Presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was done using Global TB rapid kits and a commercially available ELISA-based kit. The results showed that 3.4% of the students were positive for HIV, 2.1% for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and none for HIV/Mycobacterium tuberculosis coinfection. The age-specific infection rate showed a higher HIV infection rate in the age group 16-24 years (4.7%) than less than 25 years (2.8%). While higher Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection rate occurred in the age group >25 years (2.8%) than in less than 25 years (2.3%). The gender-specific infection rate showed that females had a higher infection rate (HIV, 4.7% and TB, 2.3%) than males (HIV, 2.6% and Mycobacterium tuberculosis, 1.7%). Age and sex were the main correlates (P<0.05) of HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This study further confirmed the presence of HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections among University students. These findings suggest the need for regular screening of University students for HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Three diagnostic rapid test kits (Chembio HIV-1/2 Stat-Pak, Alere Determine TM HIV-1/2, and Core HIV-1/2) for human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1/2) antibodies detection were evaluated against a gold standard fourth generation ELISA (Dia-Pro). Hundred and seventy two serum samples were collected from Lulubriggs Health Center, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State. All samples were tested for HIV-1/2 using the three rapid test (parallel algorithm and serial algorithm), and retested using the 4 th generation ELISA. The results obtained were compared with those from the ELISA. The Determine TM rapid strips had sensitivity of 66.7%, specificity of 100%, positive predictive value 100%, negative predictive value 89.4% and total agreement of 91.3%. Stat-pak and Core HIV-1/2 rapid strips both had sensitivity of 71.7%, specificity of 100%, positive predictive value 100%, and negative predictive value 90.7% and total agreement of 92.4%. Determine was mostly used by the participant laboratories 18 of 30 (60%). The performance evaluation of the testing algorithm showed that parallel algorithm is more accurate in comparison to serial algorithm. The result of this study reveals that most rapid test are less sensitive and the accuracy of serial testing algorithm is low, this implies that most acute HIV infection will be missed with rapid assay and false negative results will be reported as actual negative with serial algorithm.

Neuroto xicity tests in animals exposed to toxic substances could provide additional informat ion on possible neurotoxic effects. The aim o f this study is to determine the nephrotoxic effect of wastewater discharged fro m a carbonaceous industry on mice (Mus musculus). The present study examined the nephrotoxic effects of carbonaceous wastewater in mice, the mice were exposed to five different concentrations of the waste water. Cyclophosphomide was used as the positive control and distilled water was used as a negative control, for a period of 35das. Creatinine and urea concentration in seru m was used as kidney function. The weights of the animals were recorded weekly after which their kidneys were harvested. Organ weight was measured at post exposure and preserved afterwards for histology. The physical, chemical and heavy metal co mposition of the wastewater was also analysed. There was no significant (P>0.05) change in the kidney and body weight of the exposed mice or the negative control. The activities of urea and creatinine in the serum of exposed mice were significantly increased co mpared to the negative control mice and this increase was concentration dependent at P<0.05. The h istological lesions observed in the kidney showed generalised occlusion of the tubular lu men, general tubular necrosis, with protein casts in the tubular lumen and mu ltip le foci of haemorrhage in the parenchyma were observed. The results of the study showed that the observed nephrotoxic effect in the exposed mice may be caused by the presence of heavy metal and other physical and chemical substances present in the waste water. Th is suggests a higher risk to kidney damage in hu mans and other organisms exposed to this waste water and may also be deleterious to the surrounding environment.