The prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection in HIV-positive and HIV-negative infants: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
African Journal of Laboratory Medicine
| Field | Value | |
| Title | The prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection in HIV-positive and HIV-negative infants: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa | |
| Creator | Mdlalose, Nokukhanya Parboosing, Raveen Moodley, Pravi | |
| Description | Background: The prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) amongst South African infants and children has been reported in the pre-HIV era. Despite the reported high prevalence of HIV in the general population of South Africa, the rate of HIV/HBV co-infection amongst infants and children remains poorly reported.Objectives: We describe the prevalence of HBV infection amongst HIV-positive and HIV-negative infants by molecular methods of diagnosis using dried blood spot samples.Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted between July 2011 and December 2011 in an academic referral laboratory offering viral diagnostic services to the entire KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. A total of 322 study samples were collected from discarded residual dried blood spot samples following routine infant diagnosis of HIV. Equal proportions of HIV-positive and HIV-negative infant specimens were studied. Statistical differences in the prevalence of HBV between the HIV-positive and HIV-negative samples were calculated using the Pearson chi-square test, and a p-value 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Further testing for HBV DNA using a nested polymerase chain reaction method was performed.Results: The overall prevalence of HBV was 10%. In the HIV-positive group, 21 of 161 infants tested positive for HBV compared with 12 of 161 HIV-negative infants who tested positive for HBV. The proportion of infants infected with HBV was marginally higher amongst HIV positiveinfants (13.0%; 95% CI 6.8–19.9) compared with HIV-negative infants (7.5%; 95% C I2.5–13.7; P = 0.098), though not statistically significant.Conclusion: The finding of a 10% HBV prevalence in this infant cohort is clinically significant. The non-statistically significant difference in HBV prevalence between the HIV-positive and HIV-negative infants suggests that high prevalence of HBV infection in children may be a problem independent of HIV. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS | |
| Date | 2016-03-31 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/ajlm.v5i1.283 | |
| Source | African Journal of Laboratory Medicine; Vol 5, No 1 (2016); 5 pages 2225-2010 2225-2002 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://ajlmonline.org/index.php/ajlm/article/view/283/465
https://ajlmonline.org/index.php/ajlm/article/view/283/466
https://ajlmonline.org/index.php/ajlm/article/view/283/464
https://ajlmonline.org/index.php/ajlm/article/view/283/454
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