TITLE:
Prevalence of Antibodies to HIV among Students of Selected Tertiary Schools in Two Southwest States, Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Gabriel Olugbenga Daramola, Adekemi Olubukunola Oluyege, Helen Abike Edogun, Amos Olakunle Ojerinde, Babatunde Ajayi Olofinbiyi, Ayodele Oluwaseun Ajayi, Olugbenga Omoniyi Ajala, Ogunbola Ogunfolakan, Adebimpe Egbebi, Clement Olawale Esan, Adegboyega Oladele Agbaje
KEYWORDS:
Seroprevalence, HIV, AIDS, Tertiary Schools, Undergraduates, Ekiti, Ondo
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.5 No.8,
August
17,
2017
ABSTRACT: Young adults generally have been identified as one of the groups of individuals who are particularly at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and under-graduates constitute a very significant subset among these young adults. Therefore this research was designed to study the specific factors that put undergraduates in ten selected tertiary institutions in southwest Nigeria at risk of contracting HIVAIDS, as well as determine HIV prevalence in these campuses and the viral load of positive subjects. 1000 undergraduates were enrolled in the study, over a period of forty-two months. Baseline retroviral screening was carried out, using a rapid commercial test-kit, DETERMINE®. Confirmatory tests were carried out on positive samples using Enzyme Immuno Assay (EIA) technique. The viral load of the positive samples was determined using Real Time PCR, while the CD4+ count was assayed using Cyflow technique. Four out of the 1000 subjects were confirmed to be positive, thus representing an overall prevalence rate of 0.4%. The CD4 count of the positive subjects were 479/L, 368/L, 420/L and 1063/L. Molecular analysis of the positive subjects’ samples using RT-PCR revealed that the level of viral RNA in two of the subjects’ was too low for detection, while the other two positive subjects had 20 cp/ml and 325 cp/ml of viral RNA in their samples. Analyses of both the negative and positive subjects’ questionnaires were carried out, so as to determine the probable risk-factors that predisposed the positive subjects to infection. Hypotheses tested at p