Original Article
Copyright ©2012 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Dec 27, 2012; 4(12): 365-373
Published online Dec 27, 2012. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v4.i12.365
Prevalence of HIV and HCV infections in two populations of Malian women and serological assays performances
Nouhoum Bouare, Dolores Vaira, Andre Gothot, Jean Delwaide, Sebastien Bontems, Laurence Seidel, Paul Gerard, Christiane Gerard
Nouhoum Bouare, Dolores Vaira, Andre Gothot, Sebastien Bontems, Christiane Gerard, Department of Hematobiology, Immuno-Hematology and AIDS Reference Laboratory B35, CHU-ULg, 4000 Liege, Belgium
Jean Delwaide, Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, CHU-ULg, 4000 Liege, Belgium
Laurence Seidel, Department of Public Health (Biostatistics), CHU-ULg, 4000 Liege, Belgium
Paul Gerard, Institute of Mathematics, ULg, 4000 Liege, Belgium
Author contributions: Bouare N contributed to study conception, data collection, manuscript writing including drafting the article, analysis and interpretation of data; Gothot A and Delwaide J contributed to study conception and revised the manuscript; Vaira D and Bontems S contributed to the analysis and interpretation of data and revised the manuscript; Seidel L and Gerard P performed statistical analysis of data, and contributed to manuscript editing; Gerard C designed the study, supervised the analysis and interpretation of data and reviewed the manuscript.
Supported by The Belgian technical cooperation
Correspondence to: Dr. Christiane Gerard, Department of Hematobiology, Immuno-Hematology and AIDS Reference Laboratory B35, CHU-ULg, 4000 Liege, Belgium. christiane.gerard@chu.ulg.ac.be
Telephone: +32-4-3667551 Fax: +32-4-3667547
Received: June 19, 2012
Revised: October 15, 2012
Accepted: November 14, 2012
Published online: December 27, 2012
Abstract

AIM: To estimate the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in women in Mali and to evaluate the performance of serological assays.

METHODS: Two prospective studies were conducted in 2009 and 2010 in Mali. They concerned first, 1000 pregnant women attending six reference health centers in Bamako (Malian capital) between May 26 and June 16, 2009; and secondly, 231 women over 50 years who consulted general practitioners of two hospitals in Bamako between October 25 and December 24, 2010. Blood samples were collected and kept frozen in good condition before analysis. All samples depicted as positive using HIV/HCV enzyme immuno-assay screening assays were submitted to confirmation analysis. Molecular markers of HCV were characterized.

RESULTS: The seroprevalence of HIV and HCV in the population of pregnant women was 4.1% and 0.2% respectively. Among older women the seroprevalence was higher and similar for HIV and HCV (6.1% vs 6.5%). The anti-HIV prevalence was not different in young and older women (4.1% vs 6.1%). In contrast, the anti-HCV prevalence was higher in older compared to younger women (6.5% vs 0.2%, P < 0.01). Of 2 pregnant women who were HCV seropositive, only one was polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reactive and infected by genotype 2, with a viral load of 1600 IU/mL. Regarding older women who were HCV seropositive, 13 out of 15 were PCR reactive, infected by genotype 1 or 2. Globally HCV genotype 2 was predominant. The positive predictive value (PPV) measured with VIKIA HIV test in young women was 100% therefore significantly higher than the 87.5% measured in older women (P < 0.05). Conversely, the PPV measured with Monolisa HCV assay in older women was 88.2% and higher than the 14.3% measured in younger women (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION: Whereas HIV prevalence was similar in both subpopulations HCV was more frequent among older women (P < 0.01). The PPV of screening assays varied with the age of the subjects.

Keywords: Human immunodeficiency virus; Hepatitis C virus; Serology; Molecular diagnostics; Women; West Africa; Bamako