A survey of HIV, HBV and HCV infections in children aged 1-13 years in Yi ethnic area, Sichuan province

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV infections in children aged 1-13 years in Yi ethnic area in Sichuan province. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the form of field survey in four townships selected from Yi ethnic area of Sichuan during 2014-2015. Participants were children aged 1-13 years by sample size of 900 and were screened for HIV antibody, HBV surface antigen and HCV antibody, and laboratory comfirmation was conducted. The area, age, gender and ethnic group specific infection rates were compared by using Fisher's exact test, and multiple comparisons were corrected by using Bonferroni correction. Results: A total of 677 children aged 1-13 years were surveyed. The infection rates of HIV, HBV and HCV were 1.03% (7/677, 95%CI: 0.42%-1.12%), 6.65% (45/677, 95%CI: 4.89%-8.79%) and 0.15% (1/677, 95%CI: 0%-0.82%), respectively. The infection rates of HIV differed among townships (P=0.000), the infection rate was higher in township D than in township B, the difference was significant (P<0.001). The differences in HIV infection rate among different age, gender and ethnic groups were not significant. The differences in HBV and HCV infections were not significant among different townships, age, gender and ethnic groups. The difference in HBV viral load between age group 5-9 years and age groups 10-13 years was not significant (U=115.000, P=0.967). Conclusions: The burden of HIV and HBV infections in children aged 1-13 years was heavy in rural area of Yi ethnic area in Sichuan. Therefore, it is necessary to take effective measures to block the vertical transmission of HIV and HBV as well as to increase the coverage of HBV vaccination.