Introduction: Consistent condom use still remains a key strategy in HIV prevention. Studies have demonstrated declining condom use among HIV positive patients on ART. There is paucity of such information among HIV positive individuals on ART in Nigeria. We sought to find the rates and associated factors for condom use among a cohort of PLHIV on ART in Nigeria. Methods:A cross sectional review of PLHIV on ART was carried out in an ART treatment facility. Trained clinic staff administered a checklist to adult patients who had been on ART for a minimum of 9 months. Information was collected on age, sex, marital status, number of sexual partners, condom use and occurrence of sexually transmitted infection.Results: Of the 282 respondents; average age was 35 years. Forty four percent (44%) never used while 25% used condoms consistently in the previous 3 months. Single (OR: 7.23, CI: 2.999-17.446, p= 0.000) and widowed (OR: 3.76, CI-1.179-12.04, p= 0.026) respondents were more likely to use condom always or sometimes. Male respondents were almost twice as likely to use condoms always and sometimes (OR: 1.74, CI-0.988-3.078, p = 0.055). There was no significant association between condom use and history of STI (OR: 0.74, CI-0.444-1.239, p= 0.254), or number of sexual partners (OR: 0.93, CI-0.427-2.01, p = 0.848). Conclusion:Rates of condom use was low particularly among females and married patients on ART. Program and clinic managers should aggressively target females and married couples with varied and appropriate prevention messaging to improve coverage.

In immunodeficiency diseases such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection, various body functions may be affected; visual function could be one of them. In a child, there are predictable adverse outcomes of the disease that bother physical and mental development. This study sought to investigate any potential compromise of visual function amongst HIV-infected children on anti-retroviral drugs known as Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) use by comparing the visual acuity, colour sense and field of vision in infected and non-infected children. One hundred (100) children aged between 5 to 15 years consisting of fifty (50) HIV infected and fifty (50) non-HIV infected were selected through random sampling. Visual acuity test (Snellen's method), colour sense test (Ishihara chart method) and field of vision test (confrontational method) were carried out. Latest Cluster of Differentiation 4 (CD4+) count of the HIV infected subjects also was collected. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Student T Test and ANOVA. The mean visual acuity of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infected children was slightly low compared to the negative group (94.2±4.61and 96.4±12.58 respectively) but was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The mean of Ishihara colour sense test and that of the field of vision test also showed no statistically significant change between infected and non-infected children. Mean CD4+ count of the HIV infected children increased with age and use of anti-retroviral drugs. From 11 to 15 years, percentage defect in visual acuity increased amongst the HIV infected children, compared to the other ages but not statistically significant (p>0.05). It was concluded that visual acuity decreases slightly with improving CD4+ count and increasing age, for HIV positive children on anti-retroviral drugs. These parameters could be observed in subsequent years and subjects monitored for further investigation.

Background:The objective of this study is to evaluate the economic impact of vaccine-based interventions in response to an influenza pandemic, for the city of Chicago, and compare the costbenefit metrics between a dynamic agent-based network model and a static Markov model. Efficient allocation of clinical resources, including vaccination, minimizes the costs of deaths, hospitalizations, and outpatient visits during an influenza pandemic.Methods & Materials: The social contact network is a colocation based synthetic network, generated for the city of Chicago. The transmission dynamics of the influenza-like-illness in the population is simulated using the susceptible-exposed-infectiousrecovered epidemiological model. We compare the costs and benefits of different vaccine-based interventions in control and prevention of an influenza pandemic.Results: We simulated a base case scenario of no vaccine intervention for the city of Chicago with a basic reproductive number of 1.5 for a resultant attack rate of 58.1% and health care cost per capita of $1,124. Applying the vaccine intervention with efficacy of 40% and compliance rate of 40% was a cost saving intervention for both the dynamic agent-based network model and the static Markov model. The net return per capita at 21$ per vaccine is $363 and $261 for the dynamic and static models respectively. Conclusion:We infer that higher number of cases of Influenza are averted in the dynamic agent-based network model in comparison to the static Markov model, as well as the vaccine-based interventions are comparatively more cost effective for all age and risk groups in the dynamic model.

No abstract