HIV Infection in hospitalized under-5 children with acute watery diarrhoea in Calabar, Nigeria.

Abstract

Background: The signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS in children are not quite distinct because of similarities in clinical presentation between HIV infection and endemic tropical diseases. Diarrhoea, one of the cardinal symptoms of HIV/AIDS, is a common childhood disease. Objective: This study was conducted to find the prevalence of HIV infection among children admitted with acute watery diarrhoea in our diarrhoea treatment and training unit. Method: Consecutive children aged below 5 years admitted into the unit with diarrhoea were recruited. The children were examined. The parents were counseled before blood was taken for HIV screening. In addition, parents of children who were sero-positive for HIV were also screened. Results: One hundred and fifty-two who made the inclusion criteria were studied. Eight (5.3%) were sero-positive for HIV, five of them being males. None of these mothers had antenatal care and they were all delivered at either home or traditional attendants' homes. All were under weight and six of them presented with severe dehydration. These factors reached statistical significant differences between children who were sero-positive and those who were not. None of these eight patients died from acute watery diarrhoea but two of them eventually died from complications of persistent diarrhoea. Conclusion: Children with HIV may present with acute watery diarrhoea. Children with diarrhoea that are underweight with severe dehydration whose sero-status are not known should be screened for HIV.

HIV Seroprevalence in children whose mothers were seronegative at antenatal care booking in an immunization centre in Calabar, Nigeria

“…Calabar was one of the earliest centres in Nigeria to report paediatric AIDS [9], but presently has only few children enrolled into antiretroviral (ARV) programme. A more disturbing fact is that a recent study of the prevalence of HIV in children with acute watery diarrhoea in the centre was found to be as high as 5% [10].…”

Facility-based evaluation of under-fives with diarrhoea in Cross River State, Nigeria: a clinical audit

“…Ntia et al reported HIV prevalence of 5.6% among hospitalized under-fives with acute watery diarrhoea in a tertiary health facility in Cross River State. 14 It is worthy of note that even though there was a low request for investigations for diarrhoea disease by the health care providers, the performance was quite high among those in whom the requests were made. This indicates a good compliance by caregivers to conduct investigations when requested.…”