Prevalence of Blood-Borne Infectious Diseases in Blood Donors in Ghana

Ampofo, William; Nii-Trebi, Nicholas Israel; Ansah, Justina; Abe, Kenji; Naito, Hideo; Aidoo, Simeon; Nuvor, Victor; Brandful, James; Yamamoto, Naoki; Ofori‐Adjei, David; Ishikawa, Koichi

doi:10.1128/jcm.40.9.3523-3525.2002

Cited by 92 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(13 reference statements)

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“…This result is consistent with HCV seroprevalence ranging between 0.9 and 6.7% reported from previous studies in Ghana and neighboring West African countries (1,4,10,19,48). The differences observed are probably related to the populations studied (blood donors, children, pregnant women, general population) and the testing algorithm used (one or more EIA screening assays followed or not by a confirmatory assay).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Frequent Recovery and Broad Genotype 2 Diversity Characterize Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Ghana, West Africa

Candotti¹,

Temple

Sarkodie

et al. 2003

J Virol

132

117

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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is thought to mostly become chronic and rarely resolves. HCV infection was serologically screened in 4,984 samples from Ghanaian blood donors, and 1.3% prevalence was found. At least 53% of confirmed anti-HCV carriers had no detectable viral RNA and were considered to have cleared the virus and recovered from the infection. Confirmation was authenticated by the presence of antibodies specific to at least two viral antigens, mostly NS3 and E2. Reactivity to HCV core antigens was lower in Ghanaian than United Kingdom blood donors. The minority of chronically infected donors carried a viral load significantly lower than an unselected comparative group of United Kingdom blood donors (2.5 ؋ 10 5 versus 2.9 ؋ 10 6 IU/ml; P ‫؍‬ 0.004). HCV genotype 2 was largely predominant (87%). Sequence clustering was similarly broad in the E1/E2 and NS5 regions. The phylogenetic diversity and the incapacity to distinguish subtypes within genotype 2 in our and others' West African strains suggested that West Africa may be the origin of HCV genotype 2. The genetic diversity extended to the identification of strains clearly separated from known subtypes of genotype 2 and genotype 1. One strain appears to be part of a new HCV genotype. HCV infection in Ghana is characterized by a high rate of recovery and the predominance of broadly divergent genotype 2 strains.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Frequent Recovery and Broad Genotype 2 Diversity Characterize Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Ghana, West Africa

Candotti¹,

Temple

Sarkodie

et al. 2003

J Virol

132

117

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“…24 The overall prevalence of anti-HTLV-1 antibodies among HIV positive patients found ............................................................................................................................................. in this study is markedly higher than previously reported in African blood donors. 9,25,26 This would be consistent with those subjects with HIV also being at increased behavioral risk for acquiring HTLV-1 infection as both viruses have the same routes of transmission. However, it could equally be consistent with widespread epidemics of HIV and HTLV-1 running in parallel but with different transmissibility parameters.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Loss of correlation between HIV viral load and CD4+ T-cell counts in HIV/HTLV-1 co-infection in treatment naïve Mozambican patients

et al. 2009

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Seven hundred and four HIV-1/2-positive, antiretroviral therapy (ART) naïve patients were screened for HTLV-1 infection. Antibodies to HTLV-1 were found in 32/704 (4.5%) of the patients. Each co-infected individual was matched with two HIV mono-infected patients according to World Health Organization clinical stage, age ±5 years and gender. Key clinical and laboratory characteristics were compared between the two groups. Mono-infected and co-infected patients displayed similar clinical characteristics. However, co-infected patients had higher absolute CD4+ T-cell counts (P = 0.001), higher percentage CD4+ T-cell counts (P < 0.001) and higher CD4/CD8 ratios (P < 0.001). Although HIV plasma RNA viral loads were inversely correlated with CD4+ T-cell-counts in mono-infected patients (P < 0.0001), a correlation was not found in co-infected individuals (P = 0.11). Patients with untreated HIV and HTLV-1 co-infection show a dissociation between immunological and HIV virological markers. Current recommendations for initiating ART and chemoprophylaxis against opportunistic infections in resource-poor settings rely on more readily available CD4+ T-cell counts without viral load parameters. These guidelines are not appropriate for co-infected individuals in whom high CD4+ T-cell counts persist despite high HIV viral load states. Thus, for co-infected patients, even in resource-poor settings, HIV viral loads are likely to contribute information crucial for the appropriate timing of ART introduction.

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“…However, recently we reported HTLV-I seroprevalence rates of 4?2 and 11?29 % among blood donors and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS patients in Ghana, respectively (Adjei et al, 2003a, b). Two earlier studies among blood donors presenting to blood banks in the late 1990s in Ghana reported an HTLV-I seroprevalence of 0?5-0?7 % (Sarkodie et al, 2001;Ampofo et al, 2002). In a much earlier related study, Lal et al (1994) reported the seroprevalence of HTLV-I among urban and rural dwellers in southern Ghana to be 1-2 %.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Seroprevalence of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I among pregnant women in Accra, Ghana

Armah

Narter-Olaga

Adjei

et al. 2006

Journal of Medical Microbiology

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Infection with human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) occurs mainly in Japan, Central and West Africa and the Caribbean Basin. Although antibody to HTLV-I has been reported among pregnant women in several endemic countries, there is no information regarding the seroprevalence in pregnant Ghanaian women. The reported seroprevalence of HTLV-I among healthy Ghanaian blood donors is between 0?5 and 4?2 %. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of HTLV-I among pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic at the 37 Military Hospital, Accra, Ghana, between the months of January and December 2003. The presence of antibodies specific for HTLV-I/II was tested using a particle agglutination test (PAT) kit and confirmed by Western blotting (WB). Of the 960 sera tested, HTLV-I/II antibodies were detected in 24 samples using the PAT kit. WB results indicated that, of the 24 positive PAT specimens, 20 specimens (83?3 %) were HTLV-I positive, one (4?2 %) was HTLV-II positive, two (8?3 %) were HTLV positive and one (4?2 %) was indeterminate. Therefore, the overall seroprevalence of HTLV-I was 2?1 %. Seroprevalence increased with age, suggesting sexual contact as the primary mode of transmission among women of childbearing age, rather than breastfeeding during infancy. The seroprevalence of 2?1 % reported here for HTLV-I in pregnant women in Accra is comparable to that of human immunodeficiency virus among the same population. In conclusion, the results indicate that HTLV-I is prevalent among asymptomatic Ghanaian pregnant women and thus there is a need to consider introducing antenatal screening for HTLV-I in Ghana. INTRODUCTIONHuman T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is known to be the pathogenic agent of adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma (ATLL) (Poiesz et al., 1980;Yoshida et al., 1982) and HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (Gessain et al., 1985; Osame et al., 1987). ATLL develops after a long incubation period, with an estimated lifetime risk of approximately 3-8 % in individuals infected before the age of 20 years (Cleghorn et al., 1995). As the prognosis for patients with ATLL is extremely poor, with median survival after diagnosis of <6 months (Takatsuki et al., 1996), the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HTLV-I is of the utmost importance. HTLV-I is not ubiquitous, but is endemic in some geographical areas and among some ethnic groups. Population-based studies have reported the prevalence of antibody to HTLV-I to range from 3-6 % in Jamaica, Trinidad and the Caribbean islands to 23?2 % in Nagasaki Prefecture in south-western Japan (Blattner et al., 1990;Murphy et al., 1991; Kishihara et al., 2001). High HTLV-I seroprevalence rates (>2 % in the adult population) have been described in southern Japan, sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean Basin, parts of South America and some areas of Melanesia and the Middle East, where 15-20 million people are infected with this virus (Kazanji & Gessain, 2003). In every endemic population, there is an increase i...

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Prevalence of Blood-Borne Infectious Diseases in Blood Donors in Ghana

Cited by 92 publications

References 12 publications

Frequent Recovery and Broad Genotype 2 Diversity Characterize Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Ghana, West Africa

Frequent Recovery and Broad Genotype 2 Diversity Characterize Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Ghana, West Africa

Loss of correlation between HIV viral load and CD4+ T-cell counts in HIV/HTLV-1 co-infection in treatment naïve Mozambican patients

Seroprevalence of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I among pregnant women in Accra, Ghana

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