Hepatitis B and C viruses Infections and Their association with Human Immunodeficiency Virus: A cross-sectional study among blood donors in Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundSince the introduction of Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy and the dramatic improvement in the prognosis of individuals with Human Immunodeficiency Virus, liver disease due to chronic viral hepatitis has become as important cause of morbidity and mortality in co-infected individuals. The objective of the study was to determine the Sero-prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus and the association of the virus with Hepatitis B Virus and Hepatitis C Virus infection. As Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Hepatitis B Virus infections are highly prevalent and they are among the major public health concern in developing countries including Ethiopia investigating this problem is of paramount benefit. Although studies on co-infection of Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus have clearly identified adverse effects of co-infection, the prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus infection and the association with Human Immunodeficiency Virus in developing countries including Ethiopia has not been know for sure.MethodA cross sectional study was conducted from January 1 to 31, 2010, in Jimma University specialized hospital Blood Bank. The inclusion criteria of the study was adult who donated blood to Jimma University specialized hospital blood bank any time from establishment of the unit until January 2010 and whose record was retrieved. Accordingly 9,204 adults were included of which 6,063 were selected by lottery method. Data on socio-demographic variables (age and sex), laboratory test result for Hepatitis B surface Antigen, anti-Hepatitis C Virus antibody, anti-Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 antibody, and Rapid Plasma Reagin tests were collected using structured questionnaire. After the data were collected, they were entered into a computer and analyzed using SPSS -16 for windows. P-Value of < 0.05 was taken to be statistically significant.ResultsThe prevalence rate of Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus, Human Immunodeficiency Virus and syphilis infection were 2.1%, 0.2%, 2.1% and 0.7%, respectively. Sex and age had statistically significant association with Human Immunodeficiency and Hepatitis B virus infections where females were less likely to be infected. As age increases above 20 years, the risk of infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus or Hepatitis B Virus increases. There was no association between Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus.Conclusionthe prevalence rate of Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus infections among blood donors in Jimma University specialized hospital were lower as compared to previous studies, in addition there was no association between Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Thus, community based study should be conducted to confirm the relationship of Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

Hepatitis viruses in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…However, the HBsAg prevalence in this group was a bit higher (8.4%) than the community based studies (8.0%), but in agreement with reports on blood donors of other African countries [70–72]. Nevertheless, in Ethiopia, studies in this group showed a marked variation even in the same locality with exceptionally highest [8, 14] or lowest [13, 15] prevalence rates over time. Apart from geographical location and study time differences, the discrepancies in this group in particular and other groups in general could be due to methodological drawbacks such as small sample size seen from southwest Ethiopia [14] and ill-defined study design from northwest Ethiopia [50].…”

“…2a). Moreover, the reports from the blood donors of the same localities like in Bahir Dar (25 vs. 4.11%) [8, 13], Jimma (24.2 vs. 2.1%) [14, 15] and Gondar (14.4 vs. 4.7%) [16, 17] showed marked epidemiological discrepancies over time (Fig. 2b).…”

Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus Infection and Associated Factors among HIV Positive Adults Attending ART Clinic at Hawassa Referral Hospital, SNNPR, Ethiopia

“…In contrast, the prevalence of HBV in this study was higher when compared to the 2.4% and 4.1% prevalence reported from Uganda and Rwanda respectively as well as 3.9% HBsAg prevalence in Addis Ababa [17] [24].…”

Risk Factor for Blood-borne Disease (Study in Blood Donors at Semarang District)

“…They are virus hepatitis B virus , hepatitis C virus dan Human Immu-nodeficiency Virus (Yami et al 2011) [5,17].…”

“…More than 240 million people worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus, between 500 up to 700,000 people die every year because of heart. More than 350,000 people die annually due to the disease hepatitis C [18,29]. According to the data of the Basic Health Research from the Ministry of health of Indonesia by 2013, the prevalence of hepatitis in Indonesia infected with virus hepatitis was 1.2%, two times higher than in 2007 [15].…”