Infection with HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B in Ethiopia: a survey in blood donors

Abstract

Sera of all male donors appearing at the blood bank of a regional hospital in Northwest Ethiopia in 1994 (n = 1022) and 1995 (n = 1164), were screened for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) and treponemal antibodies. Additionally, screening for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was carried out on 549 consecutive sera. In 1995, the crude seroprevalence of HIV-1 infection and syphilis was 16.7% and 12.8%. Seroprevalence of HBsAg was 14.4%. HIV and syphilis seroprevalence was highest in soldiers (30.6% and 20.9%) and daily workers (18.8% and 13.5%), and lowest in farmers (8% and 6.7%). However, farmers had the highest rate of HBsAg (18.8%). HIV-positive donors had an increased risk for being positive for syphilis antibodies (OR = 3.69, 95% CI = 2.69-4.96), but not for HBsAg (OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.36-1.67). The data indicate that (i) the HIV epidemic has not yet reached a plateau phase in Ethiopia, and (ii) the transmission and epidemiology of HBsAg in Ethiopia is different from that of HIV and syphilis.

Seroepidemiology of hepatitis B virus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: transmission patterns and vaccine control

“…A study of HBsAg carrier pregnant women in Addis Ababa [28] provided direct evidence of the low risk of perinatal transmission. Whilst estimates of HBsAg prevalence of 10-14% and seroprevalence of 76-79% for Ethiopian adults [9,20,24,27] appear higher than those observed in this study, the low precision of prevalence estimates in some of the earlier studies, and differences between studies in age representations and sampling criteria, make quantitative comparison difficult. Regional differences in HBV marker prevalence are observed in Ethiopia [9,20,24], which might affect prevalence in Addis Ababa in view of the considerable inmigration over the past 20 years.…”

“…3 %, and in male blood donors in NW Ethiopia HBsAg prevalence was reported as 14 . 4% [24]. A study of HBsAg carrier pregnant women in Addis Ababa [28] provided direct evidence of the low risk of perinatal transmission.…”

“…If HBV vaccine costs continue to decline with growth of the world market, vaccine intervention will become increasingly cost-effective. However, Addis Ababa is not representative of Ethiopia in general, not so much in terms of the regional differences in HBV seroprevalence in Ethiopia, which are not dramatic [9,20,24], but in the level of routine vaccine coverage achieved, the national average being 51 % in 2000/2001 with wide regional variation (personal communication, EPI, Ministry of Health, Addis Ababa). This does not necessarily argue against introducing HBV vaccine into the national EPI schedule, since low level coverage is predicted to have significant impact on carriage…”

“…There is a body of literature on hepatitis B in Ethiopia relating its public health importance [17][18][19], and giving information on the pattern of HBV markers in various geographical locations, age and social groups, and risk categories [9,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Our study builds upon this earlier work, providing significantly more detailed and representative data on HBV marker seroprevalence for the capital city of Addis Ababa.…”

Seroprevalence and risk factors for hepatitis B virus infection among general population in Northern India

“…The rate was comparable to that reported from Lucknow 2.2% (5) , North India 2.5% (25) , Mumbai 2.02% (9) , Pakistan 2.21% (24) , Calcutta 2.8% (4) and Bangladesh 2.4% (17) . When the results of the present study was compared with those reported from similar blood donors of other countries like Cameroon 11.72% (35) , Taiwan 4.5% (32) , Ethiopia 14.4% (27) , Mauritania 20.3% (20) , Thailand 4.51% (21) , Djibouti 10.4% (8) , Mangolia 8.2% (33) , this study showed relatively lower prevalence of the hepatitis-B surface antigen whereas countries like Brazil 1.9% (23) , Iran 1.07% (12) , Turkey1.5% (28) and US Community 0.15% (18) , showed lower HBsAg positivity in comparison to the present study.…”