Approximately, 70% of cervical cancer cases worldwide are attributable to HPV-16 and HPV-18, with HPV-associated cancers being the second most common infection-related cancers globally. However, there´s paucity of data about this infective agent in Central Nigeria. In a cross-sectional study, we evaluated the seroprevalence of HPV-16 immunoglobulin G (IgG) and risk determinants among women in Central Nigeria as a first step towards evaluating anti-HPV IgM antibody for active cases and determining incidence. Blood samples were collected between August 2016 and January 2018, from 400 consenting women of childbearing age (15-49 years) who completed structured questionnaires. Samples were analyzed using HPV-16 specific IgG ELISA kits (Cusabio Co. Ltd, Germany). Statistical analysis was performed to determine predictors. Overall, we found that 128 (32.0%) had IgG antibody against HPV-16. Seroprevalence by age was 50.0% (15-19 years), 55.0% (20-24 years), 12.9% (25-29 years), 50.0% (30-34 years), 32.1% (35-39 years), 18.2% (40-44 years) and 19.4% (45-49 years) respectively. Factors associated with infection were age (P=0.0002; 95% CI 5.06-31.51), occupation (P<0.0001; 95% CI 1.4-12.6), number of sex partners (P=0.0037; 95% CI 1.27-49.93), history of genital warts (P=0.0203; 95% CI 1.34-9.55) and education level (P<0.0001; 95% CI 3.89-60.11). In addition, forty six (11.5%) reported having the history of genital warts with 268 (67.0%) and 132 (33.0%) subjects being married and single respectively. Individuals who were either artisans or civil servants were 260 (65.0%), whereas 140 (35.0%) were students. Majority, 324 (81.0%), had either primary, secondary or tertiary education with 76 (19.0%) of the subjects having no formal education. In respect of sexual behaviour, 196 (49.0%) reported having at least two sexual partners, out of which 64 (16.0%) had three or more. These findings provide high serological evidence of exposure to HPV-16 in Central Nigeria with implications for national and regional intervention initiatives.
Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infections is a sexually transmitted infection worldwide, which has a public health implications especially as a driving force behind the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic. It is known to cause genital ulcer as well as lesions. It is a lifelong recurrent disease with no cure. Due to the lack of documented HSV-2 studies among HIV patients in this study area with an estimated HIV prevalence of 38.7%, there was a need for estimating the seroprevalence of HSV-2 infection in the study population. The sera of 223 consenting HIV positive patients were screened for HSV-2 specific IgG using an ELISA test kit (Cortez Diagnostic, Inc, USA). The chi-square test was performed to identify possible risk factors associated with the viral seropositivity. The overall seroprevalence of the viral infection was 77.6%. Females recorded a prevalence of 84.5% and males 51.0% (p > 0.05). Participants aged ≤ 20 and ≥ 61 years recorded a prevalence of 100%, while the lowest prevalence (66.7%) was observed in those aged 51-60 years (p > 0.05). There was a statistically significant association between the seroprevalence of HSV-2 in HIV patients in relation to locality. Patients from the rural setting had a higher prevalence (85.2%) of the infection than those from the urban setting (72.6%) (p ≤ 0.05). However, in this study, marital status, occupation, level of education, antiretroviral therapy (ART) status and CD4 counts, had no statistically significant association with HSV-2 infection (p > 0.05). Awareness campaigns that will promote behavioral change might be the most important strategy to mitigate transmission as most of the infected persons usually show no clinical symptoms. The role of vaccination and condom use among high risk groups may help in combating the transmission.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a double-stranded circular DNA virus that infects the hepatocytes. HBV infection is considered as an important public health concern globally especially with one-third of the world's population been infected. Local and international migrants are one of those population at high risk of the infection. Many factors interplay in the acquisition of HBV such as purpose of travel, destination endemicity rate of the virus, time of stay of the traveler, inadequate prevention and control measures, among others, understanding the genotypes of HBV is critical in correlating the evolution of the virus and migration of humans and also treatment responses of infected population. The symptom of the virus ranges from fever to jaundice and to a liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Transmission of HBV is commonly via horizontal route in developing regions and in the developed regions; transmission occur more often among adults that use injectable drugs and high-risk sexual behaviors. Therefore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) have recommended HBV screening and vaccination to all travelers without an HBV immunization history before traveling to endemic regions. This chapter gives an overview on HBV as a potential traveler's infection.
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