Post exposure prophylaxis against human immunodeficiency virus: Awareness knowledge and practice among Nigerian Paediatricians

Objective: To determine the level of awareness, knowledge and practice of human immunodeficiency virus post exposure prophylaxis (HIV PEP) among paediatricians in Nigeria.Methodology: The study was a cross sectional questionnairebased survey conducted among paediatrcians that attended the Paediatric association of Nigeria annual scientific conference in 2015.Results: Most of the respondents (96%) were aware of the concept HIV PEP. The scores on knowledge of PEP for all the respondents ranged from 18% to 91 % with a mean score of 46.5 ± 14.1%. There was no significant difference between the performance of those who had received training on HIV PEP (48.0 ± 13.2%) and those who had not (45.1 ± 14.8%), p = 0.21, t =1.26. Ninety one (60.7%) of the respondents had been exposed to percutaneous injury during work. Thirty (33%) of the exposed paediatricians did not know the patient’s HIV status and only 10 (11%) received PEP, with only 7 (7.7%) of them completing the PEP for 4 weeksConclusion: Despite the high level of HIV PEP awareness, there was an unacceptable high rate of occupational exposures and poor knowledge of HIV PEP among Paediatricians. Additionally, there was a low uptake of HIV PEP services amongst exposed Paediatricians in Nigeria. There is need for urgent action to curb this trend.Key Words: HIV PEP, Paediatrician, Nigeri

Prevalence and Pattern of Soil-Transmitted Helminthic Infection among HIV-Infected Children attending a Tertiary Health Facility in South Eastern Nigeria

Soil-transmitted helminthic infection has been postulated to influence the immunologic mechanisms in the body thereby affecting the hosts' ability to control infections like Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). To determine the relationship between soil-transmitted helminthiasis and HIV co-infection in children attending a tertiary health facility in South Eastern Nigeria. This was a comparative crosssectional study involving 210 HIV-positive children and 210 HIV-negative children (age and sex matched) The prevalence rate of helminthic infection in HIV positive children was 5.7%. Ascaris lumbricoides was the commonest species observed both for HIV-positive subjects (3.8%) and the controls (1.4%). There was a negative correlation between CD4 count of HIV-positive subjects and positive stool microscopy (r-0.136; p value = 0.048). The prevalence of soil-transmitted helminthiasis among HIV-infected children attending Paediatric HIV Clinic at Federal Medical Centre, Owerri Imo State was three times higher than in HIVnegative controls. CD4 counts correlated negatively with soil-transmitted helminthic infection. This underscores the need for regular deworming of HIV-infected children