Detection of Hepatitis C virus and the risk of transmission among pregnant and nursing mothers from rural and urban communities in Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

ABSTRACTHepatitis C virus (HCV) is associated with liver complicated diseases resulting in end-stage hepatocellular carcinoma. Although vertical transmission from mother to child serves as one of the routes of HCV acquisition in children, yet HCV infection in pregnant women and children is still underappreciated in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, this study investigated the burden of HCV, associated risk factors, and viremia among antenatal and postnatal clinic attendees in the rural and urban communities of Kogi State, Nigeria. Atotal of 176 blood samples were collected from 78 (44.32%) consenting breastfeeding (nursing) mothers and 98 (55.8%) pregnant mothers (age ranged 18–47 years) (SD = +12.1; Median = 26.3) and tested for anti-HCV by ELISA technique. All anti-HCV-positive samples were retested by Taq one-step RT-PCR technique for viral RNA (viremia) detection. The bio-socio-demographic variables of the participants were correlated with the test results, using an IBM SPSS version 21 and MEOP 2010. Ameasure of goodness was considered significant at P< 0.05 using a95% confidence interval. This study found an overall rate of 4.6% for HCV and 2.2% (4/176) viremia indicating both active and passive infections. HCV rate was higher among the civil servants (2.3%; CI = −0.25–2.91; P= 0.241) and peaked among the age group 31–35 years (2.3%; CI = 0.183–2.182; P= 0.293). Various risk factors identified included, relatively high HCV rates during first trimester (1.7%; CI = −2.2–3.61; P= .047), ear/nose piercing (4.6%; CI = −46.83–54.82; P= 0.157), seropositivity among the married (3.9%; CI = −3.36–7.3567; P= 0.238) and urban dwellers (2.8%; CI = −8.71–16.71; P= 0.157). None of the bio-socio-demographic variables except the stage of pregnancy as arisk factor (P= 0.041) evaluated significantly influenced either HCV rate or viremia. This study showed arelatively high rate of HCV among the participants and also revealed that risk factors–based testing is not effective in ELISA testing alone for pregnant and nursing mothers in the community. Therefore, all HCV seropositive pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers including their babies should be tested using the PCR technique to determine vertical transmission and RNA reevaluated after delivery to assess spontaneous clearance.