Co–inection of hepatitis B and C viruses among human immunodeficiency virus infected children in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: The co-infection of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and C viruses remains a public health problem particularly in resource limited setting like Nigeria. Studies on these co-infections have been done principally among adult and pregnant women with limited information on the pediatric population. The study aims at documenting the burden and the patterns of HIV/HBV, HIV/HCV and HIV/HBV/HCV co-infections in children in Lagos, Nigeria.

Prevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV Infections among Sickle Cell Disease Patients in Southwestern Nigeria: A Case-Control Study

“…All three infections were lower in the pediatric (<18 years) than the adult (>18 years) population. It is well known that for viruses that cause chronic or latent infection, the prevalence of infection increases with age due to cumulative infection [52]. This, together with increased availability of vaccine for HBV, prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programmes for HIV, and improvement in screening of blood for transfusion may explain the lower prevalence of all three infections in the pediatric population.…”

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“…The Northern region, especially the North-East recorded the highest prevalence of both single and hepatitis virus co-infection amongst this cohort of suspected cases of VHF in Nigeria particularly for HEV infections with statistically significant differences. This finding from the North-East might not be unconnected to various risk factors such as level of education, insecurity, vulnerability of children, level of hygiene, level of contamination, overpopulation, poor electricity supply, and inadequate water supply [58,62,67,68]. Further evaluation of the drivers of these infections in this part of the country requires further investigation.…”

“…The highest prevalence rates of between 3-20% and 1-7% for both HBV and HCV respectively have also been documented to be domicile among the general population within the sub-Saharan Africa region [12,36]. However, varied rates for both HBV and HCV prevalence have been documented in Nigerian population with an estimated 14% and 2.1% prevalence rates of Hepatitis B virus and Hepatitis C infections respectively [65][66][67]. The prevalence of HBV and HCV documented in this study population might have significant consequences on the management of suspected cases of VHF as both viruses remain silent killers within our environment.…”

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“…The highest prevalence rates of between 3-20% and 1-7% for both HBV and HCV respectively have also been documented to be domicile among the general population within the sub-Saharan Africa region [12,36]. However, varied rates for both HBV and HCV prevalence have been documented in Nigerian population with an estimated 14% and 2.1% prevalence rates of Hepatitis B virus and Hepatitis C infections respectively [65][66][67]. The prevalence of HBV and HCV documented in this study population might have significant consequences on the management of suspected cases of VHF as both viruses remain silent killers within our environment.…”