Premium
Viral Hepatitis Infections in Africa
Author(s) -
Oyesile T C,
Einstein George P,
Obidi O F,
Tulp Orien L
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.668.14
Subject(s) - transmission (telecommunications) , medicine , viral hepatitis , odds ratio , seroprevalence , sexual transmission , confidence interval , incidence (geometry) , viral load , logistic regression , public health , hepatitis e , pregnancy , hepatitis b , demography , immunology , environmental health , biology , virus , serology , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , antibody , pathology , microbicide , sociology , genotype , optics , engineering , genetics , biochemistry , physics , electrical engineering , gene
Background Hepatitis infections are a global public health challenge involving the inflammatory condition of the liver. Transmission is a common occurrence and a potential risk especially in Sub‐Saharan Africa which is an area of high endemicity. Objectives To investigate incidence of viral hepatitis infections in Africa. Methods A literature search was performed using Pubmed, American society for microbiology (ASM) journals, Googlescholar and other sources to establish conclusions from the results of randomized and cross sectional clinical studies in Africa. The quality of studies was assessed using descriptive and inferential statistics with adjusted odds ratio of 95% confidence interval (CI) for the most prevalent hepatitis infection, ages of susceptible individuals and health status involved. Findings The results revealed the most and least prevalent Hepatitis as B and A. Seroprevalence was highest among women 21–25 years of age. About three‐quarter (73.4%) were in their third trimester of pregnancy. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors that are significantly associated with maternofetal transmission which remains a contributor to high prevalence of chronic infection. It was found that viral load and age showed significant contributions. Conclusion The results showed high correlation between viral hepatitis and maternofetal transmission in pregnant women. Support or Funding Information Supported by Institutional Resources of USAT, the Einstein Institute and the University of Lagos