Surveying Infections among Pregnant Women in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

There is paucity of epidemiological data on infectious diseases among antenatal mothers in Bayelsa State of the Niger Delta, Nigeria. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of the serological markers Human immunodeficiency virus-antibody (HIV-Ab), Hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg), Hepatitis C virus antibody(HCV-A)and antibodies to T. pallidum among pregnant women in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, South-South Nigeria. This is a cross-sectional study which was carried out in Yenagoa city, the heart of the Niger Delta, Nigeria. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies were detected by using "Determine" HIV-1/2 test strip (Abbott Laboratories, Japan); hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) and antibodies to T. pallidum were carried out using ACON rapid test strips (ACON Laboratories, USA). All positive samples for HIV, HBV and HCV were confirmed using the Clinotech diagnostic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test kits (Clinotech Laboratories, USA), while all reactive samples to Treponema pallidum antibodies were confirmed by the Treponema pallidum hemagglutination (TPHA) test (Lorne Laboratories Ltd., UK). All test procedures were carried out according to the manufacturers' instructions. The data generated were coded, entered, validated and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), version 12.0, and Epi info. The seroprevalence of syphilis, HBsAg, HCV and HIV was expressed for the entire study group by age, sex and other demographic features using Pearson chi-square analysis. Values below 0.05 were considered statistically significant. A total of 1,000 apparently healthy pregnant women aged between 15 and 44 years with a mean of 27.34±5.43 years were screened. In terms of percentage, 89.4% of the subjects were married, and 10.6% were without formal husbands. The overall seroprevalence of HIV, HBsAg, HCV and syphilis was found to be 4.1%, 5.3%, 0.5% and 5.0%, respectively. High prevalence of some infectious diseases was observed in the present study, which may pose serious health risk to women of reproductive age in this region. It is important to point out that there is need to improve antenatal care of pregnant women by mandatory screening for these infectious diseases.