Seroprevalence of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 and HIV Co-Infection Among Pregnant Women in Jigawa State

摘要

Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infections is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections Worldwide. It facilitates the acquisition of HIV and is the primary cause of genital herpes which when acquired by women during pregnancy account for half of the mobidity and mortality among neonates. Lifelong latent HSV-2 infection raises concern among women of reproductive age considering the risk of neonatal transmission. In Nigeria screening for HSV-2 and co-infection with HIV in antenatal clinics is not routinely done. A cross-sectional study, was carried out among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in four hospitals in Jigawa state. A total of 300 consenting pregnant women were enrolled, the study involved collection of sociodemographic data and laboratory determination of HSV-2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) and HIV seroprevalence using WHO standard procedure of Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test kit (DIAPRO Diagnostic Bioprobes, Milano, Italy), UNI-GOLD Wicklow, Ireland and ALERE Determine, respectively. Statistical significance was determined at p0.05Of the 300 samples tested, overall seroprevalence of 55 (18.3%) and 44 (14.7%) for HSV-2 and HIV were recorded. The HSV-2 and HIV Co-infection rate was 16 (5.3%) among respondent. About 87.5% of the co-infection occurred in respondents that were in their 2nd Trimester. Addionally, co-infection was found to be high among respondents between the age of 15-34yrs with 81.3%. In this study, education status, parity, stage of pregnancy, occupation, History of blood transfusion had no statistical significance with HSV-2 and HIV co-infection (p0.05). This study has demonstrated the existence and risk of neonatal herpes in the study area. It is recommended that HSV testing should be placed among the standard medical checkup tests in the area, again advocacy and public awareness on the potential public health burden of HSV-2 and HIV co-infection should be observed.