Incidence of Antibodies Against Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Human T-Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1, Hepatitis B Virus, Hemorrhagic Fever With Renal Syndrome Virus and Chlamydia in Tonga and Western Samoa

Abstract

SUMMARY:Among the populations of Tonga and Western Samoa, serum antibodies against human immunodeficiency virus or hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome virus were not detected (0/904 and 0/192). No serum samples were considered to be positive for antibody against human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (0/527). Hepatitis B antigen and antibody were found in 4% (8/192) and 47% (90/192), respectively.Chlamydia trachomatis IgG and C. psittaci IgG antibodies were detected in 39% (75/192) and 47% (91/192), respectively. The possibilities of the spread of human immunodeficiency virus and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome virus on the islands when the viruses invade from abroad were discussed.

Chlamydial and gonorrheal neglected sexually transmitted diseases among Pacific Islanders of the Western Pacific Region—A narrative review and call to action

“…HIV. The majority of studies up to the early 2000s found an HIV prevalence of zero to <1% among Pacific Islanders, including men and pregnant and nonpregnant women (Table 2) [6,31,32,34,[54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61]. The highest HIV prevalence was found among men and women attending an emergency department in PNG (18%) followed by FSW (10%) who had more than a 10-fold higher HIV prevalence than the general population [40,62].…”

“…Since the early 2010s, more studies reported using a rapid antibody/antigen combination as the initial test followed by additional rapid antibody tests if the first result was positive [6,37,41,42,47,48,63,64]. Foreign research efforts significantly expanded the capabilities for HIV testing in PICTs given the cost and limited laboratory and personnel resources in most PICTs [6,[55][56][57].…”

“…Prevalence studies beginning in the 1980s used gram stains and cultures for N. gonorrhoeae and ELISAs or other immunofluorescence tests directed against C. trachomatis antigens that lacked sensitivity [3,4,33,57,73]. Throughout the 1990s, these lower-cost tests continued to be used [34,35,39,74].…”

“…However, suboptimal use of health services due to the lack of accessible clinics and hospitals has resulted in missed follow-up visits by Pacific Islanders. This can lead to poor adherence to ART, faster disease progression, and increase in the spread of HIV [31,57,58].…”