Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B, and C Viruses and HIV Infections among Antenatal Women in a Secondary Health Facility in Lagos, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B and C viruses and HIV infections contribute a significant proportion to maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in low and middle-income countries. While the burden of hepatitis B and C viruses is higher in low and middle-income countries, Nigeria also has the second largest burden of HIV. OBJECTIVES: To determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C viruses and HIV infections among antenatal women who sought care at a secondary health facility in Lagos. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of patients managed in the antenatal clinic of 68 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital over one year. A study proforma was used to collect relevant data which were entered and analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Statistics) Version 23. RESULTS: A total of 347 women attended prenatal care during the study period, however, only 329 cases with complete data were included in the final statistical analysis. The prevalence of HIV in our study was 6.4%, while HBV and HCV accounted for 6.2% and 1.8% respectively. Hepatitis B, and hepatitis C viruses and HIV Infections occurred in 3 (0.9%) of our patients, 6 (1.8%) of the women had HIV-HBV co-infection while 1 (0.3%) was infected with HIV-HCV. CONCLUSION: Our study re-emphasizes the public health importance of HBV, HCV and HIV screening in our antenatal clinics. This knowledge is very important for the implementation of effective prevention and control measures that will further decrease the mother-to-child transmission of these viruses.

CONTEXTE: Les virus de l'hépatite B et C et les infections par le VIH contribuent pour une part importante à la morbidité et à la mortalité maternelles et périnatales dans les pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire. Alors que le fardeau des virus de l'hépatite B et C est plus élevé dans les pays à revenu faible et moyen, le Nigeria a également le deuxième plus grand fardeau du VIH. OBJECTIFS: Déterminer la séroprévalence des virus de l'hépatite B et C et des infections par le VIH chez les femmes en période prénatale qui ont consulté dans un établissement de santé secondaire de Lagos. MÉTHODES: Il s'agit d'une étude rétrospective des patientes prises en charge dans la clinique prénatale de 68 références de l'armée nigériane sur une période d'un an. Un formulaire d'étude a été utilisé pour recueillir les données pertinentes qui ont été saisies et analysées à l'aide du progiciel statistique pour les sciences sociales IBM (SPSS Statistics) version 23. RÉSULTATS: Un total de 347 femmes ont suivi des soins prénataux pendant la période d'étude, cependant, seuls 329 cas avec des données complètes ont été inclus dans l'analyse statistique finale. La prévalence du VIH dans notre étude était de 6,4%, tandis que le VHB et le VHC représentaient respectivement 6,2% et 1,8%. Les virus de l'hépatite B et de l'hépatite C ainsi que le VIH étaient présents chez 3 (0,9%) de nos patientes, 6 (1,8%) des femmes avaient une co-infection VIHVHB tandis qu'une (0,3%) était infectée par le VIH-VHC. CONCLUSION: Notre étude souligne à nouveau l'importance pour la santé publique du dépistage du VHB, du VHC et du VIH dans nos cliniques prénatales. Ces connaissances sont très importantes pour la mise en œuvre de mesures de prévention et de contrôle efficaces qui permettront de diminuer davantage la transmission mère-enfant de ces virus. Mots clés: Hépatite B, VIH, Hépatite C, Séroprévalence, Coinfection, Lagos.

Acute effect of sidestream cigarette smoke extract on vascular endothelial function.

Acute exposure to passive smoking adversely affects vascular function by promoting oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction. However, it is not known whether tobacco sidestream (SS) smoke has a greater deleterious effect on the endothelium than non-tobacco SS smoke and whether these effects are related to nicotinic endothelial stimulation. To test these hypotheses, endothelial-dependent relaxation and superoxide anion production were assessed in isolated rat aortas incubated with tobacco SS smoke, non-tobacco SS smoke, or pure nicotine. Tobacco SS smoke decreased the maximal relaxation to acetylcholine (Ach) from 79 +/- 6% to 57 +/- 7.3% (% inhibition of phenylephrine-induced plateau, P < 0.001) and increased superoxide anion production from 31 +/- 9.7 to 116 +/- 24 count/10 sec/mg (P < 0.01, lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence technique). The non-tobacco SS smoke extract had no significant effect on the response to Ach but increased superoxide anion production in the aortic wall to 133 +/- 2 count/10 sec/mg (P < 0.001). Furthermore, concentration-response curves to Ach and superoxide production remained unaltered with nicotine (0.001, 0.01, or 0.1 mM). In conclusion, despite similar increases in vascular wall superoxide production with tobacco and non-tobacco SS smoke, only the tobacco SS smoke extracts affected endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. Nicotine alone does not reproduce the effects seen with tobacco SS smoke, suggesting that the acute endothelial toxicity of passive smoking cannot simply be ascribed to a nicotine-dependent mechanism.

Serum zinc and copper concentrations in Nigerian women with normal pregnancy.

The impact of normal pregnancy on serum zinc and copper concentrations and on copper/zinc ratio has been determined in a cross-sectional study of eighty-four healthy pregnant Nigerian women. Fifty-seven healthy non-pregnant women served as controls. Serum zinc and copper levels were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Mean serum copper concentration is significantly higher (P < 0.001) in the pregnant group than in controls [19.74(4.65) and 11.87(2.61) micromol/L respectively], while mean zinc level is significantly lower (P< 0.001) than in controls [4.40(1.34) and 5.54(1.04) micromol/L respectively. Copper/Zinc ratio is also significantly higher than (P<0.001) in the test subject [4.87(1.77) and 2.23(0.75) micromol/L respectively]. One-way analysis of variance shows that the mean serum zinc and copper concentrations and copper/zinc ratio differ significantly (P < 0.01, P < 0.05, and P < 0.05 respectively) between any two of the trimester groups. Furthermore, there is a significant positive correlation between gestational age and copper/zinc ratio (r- 0.201; P < 0.05), and a significant negative correlation between gestational age and serum zinc concentration (r = -0.274; P < 0.01). In normal pregnancy, a negative and positive linear relationship exists between gestational age and serum zinc level and copper/zinc ratio respectively. Serum copper does not show any significant trend throughout gestation, though pregnant subjects have higher mean serum copper level than controls.