scholarly journals The Epidemiology of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Syphilis in Ghana: A Five-Year Single Urban Site Parallel Population-Based Analysis vis-à-vis the Sentinel Survey

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Osei-Yeboah ◽  
Sylvester Yao Lokpo ◽  
Francis Abeku Ussher ◽  
Verner Ndudiri Orish ◽  
Abdul-Wahab Mawuko Hamid ◽  
...  

The study was aimed at comparing the estimation of the burden and trends (2012–2016) of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Syphilis infections by the national Sentinel Survey vis-à-vis the use of population-based studies at a single urban site (Municipal Hospital) in Ho, the Volta Region of Ghana. Using blood donors as a proxy of the asymptomatic adult population, a retrospective analysis of secondary data on HIV and Syphilis testing was conducted using Ho Municipal Hospital’s archives comprising 4,180 prospective blood donors. Published reports from the National Sentinel Survey for the Ho Sentinel Site comprising 2,452 pregnant women from 2012 to 2016 were used. The cumulative prevalence of HIV and Syphilis infections in the population-based survey was 4.78% and 2.58% while the epidemiology was estimated at 2.75% and 0.24% by the Sentinel Survey for the five-year under review. The new HIV and Syphilis infections were 3.78% and 2.46% in the population-based survey compared to 2.64% and 0.23% in the Sentinel Survey. Gender cumulative prevalence and the yearly trend was found to be higher in the general population compared to the pregnant women. The use of pregnant women to estimate the HIV and Syphilis epidemiology might not be representative of the general population.

Author(s):  
Vani Srinivas ◽  
T. L. N. Prasad ◽  
Rajesh T. Patil ◽  
Sunil D. Khaparde

Background: Karnataka is one of the six high human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalent states in India. We estimated prevalence among primigravida attending antenatal clinics in Karnataka, assuming this as a proxy for HIV incidence level in the general population.Methods: We tried estimating prevalence among primigravida using cross sectional samples. Data was collected in structured data extraction sheet for the month of September 2011, from all Integrated and Counselling tested Centres (ICTCs) of Karnataka. All the pregnant women were tested as per national protocol. We analysed the basic demographic data, geographical distribution including HIV status of spouse of primigravida.Results: In September 2011, 87580, pregnant women were tested and 238 (0.26%) were found HIV positive of which, 95 (40%) were primigravida. Prevalence among primigravida, was 0.3%. The prevalence among primigravida was highest in Bagalkot (1.6%) district. In Yadgir, Kodagu and Udupi the prevalence was zero. The high prevalent blocks were Jamakhandi, Mudhol, Gokak, Hospet and Muddebihal. 73.7% spouse of positive primigravida were tested for HIV and among those tested, 87.1% were found HIV positive.Conclusions: There is striking difference in the prevalence of HIV among primigravida in different districts of Karnataka probably indicates the difference in effectiveness of preventive interventions in these districts and within blocks. The preventive programs should be reached out to the labourer's and farmers in the general population to prevent the new infections in the general population.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvester Yao Lokpo ◽  
Ellis Owusu-Dabo ◽  
John Gameli Deku ◽  
Verner Ndudiri Orish ◽  
Gideon Kye-Duodu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Syphilis is contagious and one of the oldest sexually transmitted infections, with great public health consequences. This study aimed to comparatively describe the five–year (2013-2017) regional epidemiology of syphilis infection using pregnant women in the Sentinel Survey and apparently healthy blood donors as proxy for the general population at the four sentinel sites in the Volta Region of Ghana. Method: We analysed retrospectively data from 17,744 prospective blood donors aged between 18 to 58 years and 7,805 pregnant women in a Sentinel Survey who fell within the 15 and 49 years age bracket at Hohoe, Ho, Tongu and Krachi-West sentinel sites in the Volta Region. Data extracted included age, gender, date of blood donation and Treponena pallidum chromatographic immunoassay results from the blood banks of the four study sites. Published reports of Sentinel Surveys conducted at the four sentinel sites from the years 2013-2017 were retrieved. Results: The cumulative five-year prevalence of syphilis infections among the pregnant women in the Sentinel Survey and prospective blood donors was 0.38% and 2.38% respectively. Site-specific prevalence for population-base/Sentinel survey was 4.6%/0.4%, 2.0%/0.2%, 1.3%/0.8 and 1.2%/0.2 for Hohoe, Ho, Krachi-West and Tongu respectively. New Syphilis infection rate was 0.31% in the sentinel survey and 2.22% in the general population. Significant gender disparity in syphilis infection exist with male preponderance. Conclusion: The regional prevalence of syphilis infection in the Sentinel Survey is lower compared to the general population. Therefore, the use of pregnant women as proxy for population estimate could lead to underestimation of the burden in the study jurisdiction.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvester Yao Lokpo ◽  
Ellis Owusu-Dabo ◽  
John Gameli Deku ◽  
Verner Ndudiri Orish ◽  
Gideon Kye-Duodu ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract Background: Treponemal infection is contagious and one of the oldest blood-borne infections, with great public health consequences. This study aimed to comparatively describe the five–year (2013-2017) regional epidemiology of Treponemal infection using pregnant women in the Sentinel Survey and apparently healthy blood donors as proxy for the general population at the four sentinel sites in the Volta Region of Ghana. Method: We analysed retrospectively data from 17,744 prospective blood donors aged between 18 to 58 years and 7,805 pregnant women in a Sentinel Survey who fell within the 15 and 49 years age bracket at Hohoe, Ho, Tongu and Krachi-West sentinel sites in the Volta Region. Data extracted included age, gender, date of blood donation and Treponena pallidum chromatographic immunoassay results from the blood banks of the four study sites. Published reports of Sentinel Surveys conducted at the four sentinel sites from the years 2013-2017 were retrieved. Results: The cumulative five-year prevalence of Treponemal infections among the pregnant women in the Sentinel Survey and prospective blood donors was 0.38% and 2.38% respectively. Site-specific prevalence for population-base/Sentinel survey was 4.6%/0.4%, 2.0%/0.2%, 1.3%/0.8 and 1.2%/0.2 for Hohoe, Ho, Krachi-West and Tongu respectively. Treponemal infection rates among the younger age groups (15-24years) were 0.31% in the sentinel survey and 2.22% in the general population. Significant gender disparity in Treponemal infection exist with male preponderance. Conclusion: The regional prevalence of Treponemal infection in the Sentinel Survey is lower compared to the general population. Therefore, the use of pregnant women as proxy for population estimate could lead to underestimation of the burden in the study jurisdiction.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Sylvester Yao Lokpo ◽  
Ellis Owusu-Dabo ◽  
John Gameli Deku ◽  
Verner Ndudiri Orish ◽  
Gideon Kye-Duodu ◽  
...  

Treponemal infections can be blood-borne with great public health consequences. This study is aimed at comparatively describing the five-year (2013-2017) regional epidemiology of treponemal infection using pregnant women in the sentinel survey and apparently healthy blood donors as a proxy for the general population at four sentinel sites in the Volta and Oti Regions of Ghana. We analyzed retrospective data from 17,744 prospective blood donors aged 18 to 58 years and 7,817 pregnant women in a sentinel survey with ages from 15 to 49 years at Hohoe, Ho, Tongu, and Krachi West sentinel sites in the Volta and Oti Regions. Laboratory data extracted include variables such as age, gender, date of blood donation, and Treponema pallidum chromatographic immunoassay results from the blood banks of the four study sites. The five-year treponemal infection rate among the pregnant women in the sentinel survey and prospective blood donors was 0.79% and 2.38%, respectively. Site-specific infection rate for population-based/sentinel survey was 4.6%/1.1%, 2.0%/0.5%, 1.3%/1.1, and 1.2%/0.3% for Hohoe, Ho, Krachi West, and Tongu, respectively. Significant gender disparity in Treponemal infection rate exists with a male preponderance. The regional infection rate in the sentinel survey is lower compared to the general population. Therefore, the use of pregnant women as a proxy for population estimates could underestimate the burden in the study jurisdiction.


Author(s):  
Sudhir Singh ◽  
Lalman ◽  
Rehana Najam ◽  
Umar Farooq ◽  
Shweta R Sharma ◽  
...  

It has been recognized that population-based surveys are needed to assess the prevalence of hepatitis C virus, hepatitis B virus and HIV infection. Pregnant women can be considered as outpost populations because they are relatively unselected populations and their prevalence data may be extended to general population.Study of viral markers (Human immunodeficiency virus, HBsAg and antiHCV among pregnant woman attending the antenatal clinic. Determination of HIV, HBsAg and HCV in the pregnant females. In this age wise distribution of HCV positive cases, five cases were positive in 17-21, age group of 22-26 twelve patients were positive, age group of 27-31 eleven patients were positive, age group of 32-36 four patients were positive and three were positive in the age above 36 years. In table number two, 7 were positive for HBsAg, 35 were positive for HCV and no one was for HIV.In our study, pregnant women had a higher HCV infection rate. Occurrence of HBsAg infection was low in expectant ladies. In our area, people were very careful because they don’t want to spread HIV in their area. The public has complied with HIV/AIDS regulations. They always used condoms and never shared needles. Hence the mother could not spread HIV to the child. In order tounderstand the reasons and inferences of these findings, and provide more guidance, other research is needed.


Author(s):  
Jiao Huang ◽  
Nianhua Xie ◽  
Xuejiao Hu ◽  
Han Yan ◽  
Jie Ding ◽  
...  

Abstract Background We aimed to describe the epidemiological, virological, and serological features of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV; PLWH). Methods This population-based cohort study identified all COVID-19 cases among all PLWH in Wuhan, China, by 16 April 2020. The epidemiological, virological, and serological features were analyzed based on the demographic data, temporal profile of nucleic acid test for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during the disease, and SARS-CoV-2–specific immunoglobin (Ig) M and G after recovery. Results From 1 January to 16 April 2020, 35 of 6001 PLWH experienced COVID-19, with a cumulative incidence of COVID-19 of 0.58% (95% confidence interval [CI], .42–.81%). Among the COVID-19 cases, 15 (42.86) had severe illness, with 2 deaths. The incidence, case-severity, and case-fatality rates of COVID-19 in PLWH were comparable to those in the entire population in Wuhan. There were 197 PLWH who had discontinued combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), 4 of whom experienced COVID-19. Risk factors for COVID-19 were age ≥50 years old and cART discontinuation. The median duration of SARS-CoV-2 viral shedding among confirmed COVID-19 cases in PLWH was 30 days (interquartile range, 20–46). Cases with high HIV viral loads (≥20 copies/mL) had lower IgM and IgG levels than those with low HIV viral loads (<20 copies/ml; median signal value divided by the cutoff value [S/CO] for IgM, 0.03 vs 0.11, respectively [P < .001]; median S/CO for IgG, 10.16 vs 17.04, respectively [P = .069]). Conclusions Efforts are needed to maintain the persistent supply of antiretroviral treatment to elderly PLWH aged 50 years or above during the COVID-19 epidemic. The coinfection of HIV and SARS-CoV-2 might change the progression and prognosis of COVID-19 patients in PLWH.


2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (8) ◽  
pp. e308-e315
Author(s):  
McKaylee M Robertson ◽  
Sarah L Braunstein ◽  
Donald R Hoover ◽  
Sheng Li ◽  
Denis Nash

Abstract Background We estimated the time from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seroconversion to antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation during an era of expanding HIV testing and treatment efforts. Methods Applying CD4 depletion parameters from seroconverter cohort data to our population-based sample, we related the square root of the first pretreatment CD4 count to time of seroconversion through a linear mixed model and estimated the time from seroconversion. Results Among 28 162 people diagnosed with HIV during 2006–2015, 89% initiated ART by June 2017. The median CD4 count at diagnosis increased from 326 (interquartile range [IQR], 132–504) cells/µL to 390 (IQR, 216–571) cells/µL from 2006 to 2015. The median time from estimated seroconversion to ART initiation decreased by 42% from 6.4 (IQR, 3.3–11.4) years in 2006 to 3.7 (IQR, 0.5–8.3) years in 2015. The time from estimated seroconversion to diagnosis decreased by 28%, from a median of 4.6 (IQR, 0.5–10.5) years to 3.3 (IQR, 0–8.1) years from 2006 to 2015, and the time from diagnosis to ART initiation reduced by 60%, from a median of 0.5 (IQR, 0.2–2.1) years to 0.2 (IQR, 0.1–0.3) years from 2006 to 2015. Conclusions The estimated time from seroconversion to ART initiation was reduced in tandem with expanded HIV testing and treatment efforts. While the time from diagnosis to ART initiation decreased to 0.2 years, the time from seroconversion to diagnosis was 3.3 years among people diagnosed in 2015, highlighting the need for more effective strategies for earlier HIV diagnosis.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document