Prevalence of Hepatitis C virus and HIV among adults presenting for health screening in Lagos

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis C virus is an important cause of chronic liver disease with 71 million people worldwide living with chronic HCV infection as at 2015. Nigeria has the second largest burden of HIV in Africa, with 3.2 million Nigerians living with HIV/AIDS in 2016. Most people infected with the hepatitis C virus are asymptomatic and often unaware of their infection. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of and risk factors for HCV and HIV infections among apparently healthy individuals in Lagos. Materials and methods: This was a retrospective study in which the prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies and HIV was determined among apparently healthy individuals who presented for health screening at a private laboratory facility in Lagos from May 2014 to June 2016. The health records of those who met the inclusion criteria were systematically reviewed to extract demographic and clinical information including age, sex, history of blood transfusion, alcohol use, surgery and results of serological tests for antibodies to hepatitis C virus and HIV. Results: Out of 1379 apparently healthy individuals included in the study, 60.1% were male. The prevalence rate of hepatitis C virus (HCV antibody) and HIV were 0.7% and 2% respectively. Hepatitis C virus infection was not significantly associated with history of blood transfusion, alcohol use, prior surgery and age. HIV infection was significantly associated with only prior history of surgery (OR 4.72, p=0.02). Conclusion: In this study of apparently healthy Nigerians, the prevalence rates of HCV and HIV were low, no documented HCV-HIV co-infection and surgery was a risk factor for HIV infection. Screening of healthy individuals for HIV and HCV infection is very important to determine those who are infected and need to access treatment.

Epidemiologic Survey of HBV, HCV and HIV Infections in a Pregnant Women Population in Central Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…For instance, it was 0.4% in Calabar [48], 1.5% in Lagos [11] and 1.6% in Ibadan [49]. In fact, HCV/HIV co-infection was not recorded in recent studies conducted by Ajugwo, et al [1] and Oshun and Odeghe [16] in Rivers and Lagos States respectively. However, higher prevalence of 4.9% in Texas, USA [13] and 12.3% in Europe [4] were reported and these higher prevalence rates were attributed to intravenous drugs usage in those study populations.…”

“…While HIV is a global epidemic, no continent has been more impacted than Africa. With 24.5 million individuals has the virus, this statistic signifies a small under two-thirds of the global persons with the virus [15,16]. The virus has severe impact on females especially in SSA, and reproductive aged women constitute about 57% of adults infected with HIV in this region [3,15].…”

“…In 2019, women and girls accounted for 59% of all new infection due to HIV in SSA [10]. Infection due to this viral agent in pregnancy is often linked to harsh fetal and maternal results, for example; severe loss of blood, vertical spread and infectious morbidity [11,16].…”

Séroprévalence des anticorps anti-virus de l’hépatite C et facteurs associés, d’après un dépistage volontaire en population générale en 2016 au Bénin

“…Cette différence pourrait être en rapport avec le type d´échantillonnage et la population d´étude. De cette prévalence, il ressort que le Bénin est un pays de faible endémicité par rapport au VHC au même titre que le Nigéria avec une prévalence de 0,7% en 2019 [ 13 ]. Par contre, des prévalences élevées avaient été notées dans certains pays de l´Afrique comme le Cameroun où elle est de 2,55% en milieu urbain [ 14 ], 1,2 à 2,5% au Burkina Faso [ 15 ], et 6,7% au Gabon [ 16 ].…”

“…Oshun et al . au Lagos (Nigeria) en 2019 n´ont pas objectivé de facteurs ci-dessus énumérés comme étant associés à l´infection par le VHC, ni non plus la corrélation entre l´âge, l´alcoolisme et l´hépatite C [ 13 ].…”