Sero-prevalence and factors associated with Hepatitis B and C co-infection in pregnant Nigerian women living with HIV Infection

Introduction: Perinatal and horizontal transmission of Hepatitis B occur in areas of high endemicity as most infections are acquired in the first 5 years of life. Unless Hepatitis B and C infected pregnant women identified, and appropriate treatment provided, children born to these women are at high risk of chronic Hepatitis B (and C) virus infection. The objecive of this study was to determined the prevalence and the factors associated with Hepatitis B and C Virus infection in pregnant HIV positive Nigerians. Methods: A cross sectional study among HIV Positive pregnant women seen at a large PMTCT clinic in  Lagos Nigeria. The women were screened for Hepatitis B and C Virus infection at enrollment. HIV viral  load, CD4 count, liver transaminases and hemoglobin levels were also determined. Data were managed  with SPSS for windows version. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institution?s Ethical Review  Board. Results: Of the 2391 studied subjects, 101(4.2%) and 37(1.5%) respectively were seropositive for  Hepatitis B and C Virus infection. Twowomen (0. 08%) had triple infections. blood transfusion, (cOR: 2.3; 95% CI:1.1 - 4.6), history of induced abortion (cOR:2. 2;95% CI:1.3 - 3.6), and elevated baseline ALT (cOR:2. 2; 95%CI:2. 2;4.2) were significantly associated with HBV. History of induced abortion was the only factor found to be associated with HIV/ HCV (cOR: 1.9;95%CI:1. 3-3.9). Conclusion: Hepatitis B Virus infection (4.2%) is relatively common in our environment and associated  with induced abortion, blood transfusion and elevated baseline transaminase. Hepatitis C Virus infection (1.5%) is less common and associated with only history of induced abortion. Key words: Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus, HIV, pregnanc

Evaluation of direct visual inspection of the cervix in detecting cytology diagnosed squamous intraepithelial lesion in women of known HIV status. A randomized trial (CANHIV study)

A two-arm, open label, randomized study, evaluated the test characteristics of visual inspection of cervix with Acetic acid (VIA) and Lugol’s Iodine (VILI) in detecting cytology diagnosed squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) in 1160 women of known HIV status in southwestern Nigerian. Using SIL as reference standard and the HIV status masked, VIA and VILI had similar test characteristics except for the positive predictive value in which VIA value of 91.5% was significantly higher than 77.7% for VILI (p=0.01). Among HIV positive women, VILI performed poorly across all the 4 test characteristics compared to VIA. Among severely immuno-compromised HIV positive participants VILI performance was consistently below 80% across all test characteristics (sensitivity-70.0%; specificity-66.9%; positive predictive value-46.7%; negative predictive value (NPV) -50.0%) compared to VIA (Senstivity-71.3%; specificity-88.2%; positive predictive value-83.3%; negative predictive value-88.2). Our study shows that VILI is insufficiently sensitive and specific in the presence of HIV infection especially in those with severe immunosuppression. Based on VIA’s acceptable sensitivity and NPV in all situations, it is recommended for cervical cancer screening in HIV positive women and in settings of high HIV burden