High sero-prevalence of hepatitis B virus and human immunodeficiency virus infections among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at Temeke municipal health facilities, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: a cross sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundHepatitis B virus (HBV) and Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in pregnancy is associated with direct effect of pregnancy and potential viral transmission from mother to newborn. In Tanzania very little in known on prevalence of HBV infection and their associated factors among pregnant women in lower health facilities. The main objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of HBsAg, HIV and HBV-HIV co-infection among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Dar es Salaam.MethodsThis cross sectional study was conducted in three Temeke municipal health-care facilities between May 2014 and June 2014. A total of 249 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic (ANC) were consecutively enrolled in the study. A data collection tool was used to extract socio-demographic characteristics from ANC card. Commercial ARCHITECT® ci4100™ was used to assess HBsAg status and liver function (Alanine amino-transferase (ALAT). HIV status was determined by anti-HIV antibody test.ResultsOf 249 pregnant women enrolled the median age was 25 years (IQR 22–30) and most of them were married (72.4%). The overall prevalence of HBsAg and HIV were 8.03% (95% CI: 5.0–12.1%) and 17.2% (95% CI: 12.8–22.5%), respectively. HBV/HIV co-infection rate was 2.8% (95% CI; 1.3–5.4%). HBsAg positive rate was significantly high in women who were HIV positive (p < 0.05). Being employed /student were less associated with HBV infection (aOR 0.35, 95% CI 0.13–0.95). Only 3 (15%) of pregnant women with HBsAg positive had abnormal ALAT.ConclusionsHigh prevalence of HBV and HIV infections among pregnant women were reported in this setting thus calls for the national expansion of the integration of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services for HBV infection.

Hepatitis B and C viruses’ infection and associated factors among pregnant women in the Amhara region, Ethiopia: implications for prevention of vertical transmission.

“…HIV is signi cantly associated with HBV infection. This nding is similar to studies done in Ethiopia and other African countries [4,18,36]. This is explained by HBV and HIV shared routes of transmission.…”

“…This might be due to in Ethiopia, unmarried pregnant women have the possibility of having more than one sexual partner to get job opportunities and to get money as compared to married pregnant women. To the contrary of this study, a high positive HBsAg more likely in married pregnant women than in single and divorced [36]. The observed differences could be due to the sample size of the study participant, geographic location difference, and culture of population living in.…”

“…However, our ndings are higher than those of studies done in the east Wolega zone 2.4%, Dawuro 3.5%, Addis Ababa 3%, Eritrea 3.2%, Germany 0.48%, Turkey 2.1%, and China 3.2% [28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. On the other hand, our ndings are lower than those studies done in Dire Dewa 8.4%, Mekele 8%, Hawasa 7.8%, Yirgalem 7.2%, Gambella 7.9%, Harar 6.9%, Tigray 5.5%, Gambia 9.2%, Tazania 8.03%, Cameroon 6.6%, and Ghana 12.9% [16,18,[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]. There is a variation among the prevalence's of our study with the studies that were conducted around the globe.…”

Prevalence and molecular characterization of occult hepatitis B virus in pregnant women from Gondar, Ethiopia

“…As expected, the anti-HBc+ prevalence rate was lower in the current cohort of pregnant patients compared with the HIV-positive cohort (ie, 20% versus 39.5%), which is likely due to fewer risk factors for blood-borne pathogen exposure. In comparison with other maternal HBV cohorts in Sub-Saharan Africa, the rates of chronic HBV infection (HBsAg+) are lower in this cohort (1% compared with 2.1%-10.8%) (2,25,(42)(43)(44)(45)(46).…”

Perinatal factors influencing mother-to-child HBV transmission

“…Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a critical public health problem in China, and MTCT during the perinatal period is considered the most important reason for the failure of passive-active immunoprophylaxis [8][9][10]. If the fetus cannot remove the hepatitis B virus from the mother, the infant with carry the virus chronically, and 9% will develop chronic HBV infection in adulthood [1].…”