Demographic Characteristics and Risk Factors for HIV and Hepatitis C Virus Co-infection in Pregnancy at a Tertiary Hospital in Northern Nigeria

Hepatitis and TB co-infection in PLWHA is now a major source of co-morbidity and of public health concern. HIV and Hepatitis are two viruses with overlapping epidemics and shared routes of transmission. The clinical course of HCV is accelerated in patients with HIV with resultant end-stage Liver disease as a major cause of death. Most studies in my environment failed to identify significant risk factors for HCV infection thus making intervention difficult. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among consecutive consenting HIV positive pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic of ABUTH-Zaria Nigeria. Relevant information was obtained using a structurally administered questionnaire while Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent assay Biotech Laboratories UK was used for anti Hepatitis C antibodies assay. Twenty four of the 285 samples tested positive for anti HCV antibodies giving a co-infection rate of 8.4%. Lack of formal education was associated with HCV-HIV co-infection (p <0.05), odds ratio (OR) 2.5; 95%CI 0.97-6.97. The possible risk factors analyzed including previous blood transfusion and injecting drug use were not associated with HIV- HCV co-infection (p>0.05). This study revealed a high HCV co-infection with significant association with non-formal educational status. Improving female education may be one important strategy for its prevention.