HIV and hepatitis B and C co-infection among people who inject drugs in Zanzibar

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Mohammed Dahoma¹  Eva Matiko²  George Rutherford³  Susie Welty³  Ahmed Khatib⁴  Farhat Khalid⁴  Shaaban Haji⁴  Asha Othman⁴  Ameir Ali⁴ 

[1] Directorate of Preventive Services and Health Education, Ministry of Health, Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania;Division of Global HIV/AIDS, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania;Global Health Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA;Zanzibar AIDS Control Program, Ministry of Health, Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania;

关键词: Co-infection;    Hepatitis B;    Hepatitis C;    Human immunodeficiency virus;    Injecting drug users;    Respondent-driven sampling;    Zanzibar;    Tanzania;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-017-4933-0

 received in 2017-06-07, accepted in 2017-11-21,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPeople who inject drugs are at high risk of acquiring hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) due to risky injection and sexual practices. The objective of this study is to investigate the epidemiology of HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C, and co-infection of these viruses among people who inject drugs in Zanzibar, Tanzania.MethodsWe used respondent-driven sampling to identify 408 participants, from whom we collected demographic data, information on sexual behaviours and injection drug practices, and blood samples for biological testing.ResultsPrevalence of hepatitis B surface antigenaemia, HCV, and HIV infection were 5.9, 25.4, and 11.3%, respectively. Of the participants who were hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive, 33.5% were infected with HCV and 18.8% were infected with HIV. Of the HCV-infected participants, 29.3% were infected with HIV. Of the participants who were infected with HIV, 9.0% were HBsAg positive, 66.6% had HCV and 8.5% had both. None of the potential risk factors we measured were associated with HBsAg positivity. In contrast, older age and longer duration of injection drug use were independently associated with HCV infection. HCV infection among people who inject drugs is lower in Zanzibar than in other countries, but could rise without proper interventions.ConclusionsThese findings underscore the importance of screening people who inject drugs for HIV, HBsAg, and HCV; providing HBV vaccination to those who are eligible; initiating antiretroviral therapy for those who are co-infected with HIV/HBV and HIV/HCV; and introducing interventions that have high impact on reducing needle sharing.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017