Co-infection of HIV, HBsAg and HCV Among Pregnant Women of African Descent

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis C virus and Hepatitis B virus (HBV) are blood borne pathogens that can be transmitted through sexual contact, vertical transmission, and could pose great danger in healthcare delivery. Prevalence of co-infection of HIV, HBsAg and HCV was determined in pregnant women of African descent. One hundred (100) pregnant women of African descent were used for the study having obtained their consent and approval by the Research and Ethics committee. The screening and confirmatory tests were done using double check gold and Immunocomb II respectively while HBsAg and HCV were determined with one step test strip. Out of the one hundred (100) subjects studied, the prevalence rate was noted as 15%, 6% and 2% for HIV, HBsAg and HCV respectively. Co-infection of HIV and HBsAg was more prevalent, followed by co-infection of HIV and HCV and lastly co-infection of HBsAg and HCV. The age group of 25-29 years tested positive to HIV, HBsAg and HCV. All other age groups tested positive to HIV and either HBsAg or HCV while age group of 20-24 years tested positive to only HIV and negative to both HBsAg and HCV. Though these rates might be lower compared to previous studies, counseling and enlightenment campaigns should be sustained especially on the mode of transmission, prevention and management of these diseases. Government should ensure that compulsory screening for pregnant women is available and affordable at all levels. Introduction The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are a global public health problem. Different prevalence rates have been obtained from different studies around the world. However, the prevalence rate for the markers of these viruses among people is related to certain factors, such as socio-economic level and environmental factors. In general, low prevalence rates has been reported among populations in the industrialized world compared with the population recorded in the less industrialized world [1]. An estimated 350-400 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) while 190 million are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) [2]. Since the beginning of HIV epidemic, more than 70 million people have been infected with the HIV virus, while about 35 million people have died of HIV. At the end of 2016, 36.7 million people were living with HIV globally [3]. As a result of shared routes of transmission, HIV, HBV and HCV epidemics overlap, with around 10% of the HIV infected population estimated to have chronic HBV infection and around a third estimated to have chronic HCV infection [2]. Reduced haematological indices associated with anaemia and compromised immune system has been reported in HIV patients [4]. HBV ranges in severity from a mild illness, lasting a few weeks (acute), to a serious long term (chronic) illness that can lead to liver cirrhosis or cancer [5]. HVB infection is a serious health hazard in many countries with about 10% prevalence rate [6]. Previous studies conducted in Western countries have shown that chronic liver disease especially due to HBV was the fifth leading cause of death among HIV infected pregnant women [7]. In another study, clinical assessment of hepatitis B virus positive patients showed that majority of them (68%) had no symptom (asymptomatic patients) while few of them (32%) had symptoms (symptomatic patients) such as abdominal pain, jaundice, pale dark urine, nausea, loss of appetite and body ache [8]. HCV is associated with many extra hepatic manifestations. Glomerulonephritis is one of the most common consequences of HCV infection often resulting in end stage renal disease *Corresponding author: Anslem O. Ajugwo Department of Medical Laboratory Science Madonna University, Nigeria E-mail: slemjugwo@yahoo.com Citation: Ajugwo AO, Mounbegna P, Dunga KE, Eze RI, Erhabor TA. Co-infection of HIV, HBsAg and HCV Among Pregnant Women of African Descent. Int J Immunol Immunobiol.2018 Jun;1(1):103 Copyright: © 2018 Ajugwo AO, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 international License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.