HIV prevalence and risk factors in infants born to HIV positive mothers, measured by dried blood spot real-time PCR assay in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background Infants infected during pregnancy or while breastfeeding requires early HIV diagnosis at 6 weeks after birth to identify HIV infection and timely treatment. The objective of this work was to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of HIV among HIV exposed infants in the Tigray regional state, Northern Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 exposed infants born to HIV seropositive mothers from September 01 to December 30, 2016. Convenient consecutive sampling technique was employed to enroll HIV exposed infants from age 6 weeks to 18 months attending prevention of mother to child transmission (PMCT) clinic at Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) site facility in Tigray, Ethiopia. Sociodemographic data and associated risk factors were collected using a structured questionnaire. Dried Blood Spot (DBS) samples were collected from each infant and transported by post to Tigray Health Research Institute to detect HIV infection using real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Data were entered into EPI Info version 7, exported and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. p -value less than 0.05 was deemed to be statistically significant by Fisher’s exact test. Results Three hundred forty infants (175 males, 165 females) met the criteria for selection during the completion of the study and the overall HIV prevalence was found to be 2.1% ( n = 7). The majority of infants were from urban areas ( n = 246, 72.4%). 45.5% (5/11, p = 0.001) infants were without ARV prophylaxis, 60% (3/5, p = 0.001) infants born to mothers who did not take maternal PMTCT intervention, 43% (3/7, p = 0.001) infants born to mothers who were not enrolled to ART care, and 6.1% (4/66, p = 0.029) infants of unmarried mothers showed statistically significant difference. Conclusions The overall prevalence of HIV among exposed infants was high but lower than the Millennium Development Goal targets. In order to eliminate the mother to child HIV transmission (MTCT) ARV prophylaxis in infants must be strengthened, and enrollment of HIV positive pregnant women to PMTCT and ART care and treatment is needed.

A Retrospective Study of Incidence and Predictors on Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV among HIV-Exposed Infants in West Guji Zone, Southern Ethiopia

“…HEI whose mothers were enrolled in PMTCT followed up during labor and delivery or after are also more likely to be HIV positive than those whose mothers were on HAART before pregnancy. This result was supported by the study conducted in East and West Gojjam Zones, and retrospective follow-up studies conducted in Gonder, Ethiopia, and Cameroon [ 5 , 13 , 16 , 27 ]. This is due to the reason that early detection and initiation of ARV drugs for HIV positive mothers can significantly reduce the chance of the child becoming infected with HIV [ 2 ].…”

Maternal Educational Level Determine Mother-to-child Transmission of HIV Among HIV-exposed Infants in Governmental Health Facility of Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia.

“…Unlike other earlier studies (31,(39)(40)(41), home delivery, mixed infant feeding, residency, marital status, and infants were without ARV prophylaxis did not show a statistically signi cant relationship with the outcome variable in the nal model. This variation may be due to the difference in sample size, study area, study design, method of analysis or could be also attributed to the quality of data captured.…”

“…This could be explained by the reason that those mothers with low CD4 count will have low immunity and high viral load which will increase the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission. But there are other contradictory to reports from Ethiopia (41). On the other hand the studies in France (43), Brazil (44), and Malawi (45) showed no signi cant association with mother-tochild transmission of HIV.…”

“…This result indicated that the age for HIV con rmation is important speci cally in developing countries most of HIV test is carried out by antibody test and this antibody test is used after 18 month. However, studies in Ethiopia (39,41) showed no signi cant association with mother-to-child transmission of HIV.…”

<p>Alarm Clock-Based Reminder for Improving Low Adherence on Option B Plus Antiretroviral Therapy Among HIV Positive Pregnant and Lactating Mothers in Northern Ethiopia</p>

“…13 In Tigrai, northern Ethiopia, there is high prevalence of HIV infection in infants (2.1%). 14 However, there is limited information on the adherence of Option B plus ART and its related factors. In addition, the adherence of a lactating mother to option B plus ART and related factors is not fully understood.…”