Forbi Joseph C, Pietzsch John, Olaleye Victoria O, Forbi Thanda D, Pennap Grace R, Esona Mathew D, Adoga Moses P, Agwale Simon M
Clinical Virology Department, Innovative Biotech, Keffi/Abuja-Nigeria.
East Afr J Public Health. 2010 Dec;7(4):367-8. doi: 10.4314/eajph.v7i4.64770.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: The epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been partially described for at risk groups in urban communities in Nigeria. On the other hand, literature on the possible spread of the virus in rural Nigeria remains extremely scanty. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of HCV in a rural and urban community in Nigeria.
Four hundred and twenty four (n = 424) plasma samples belonging to 238 rural inhabitants and 186 urban dwellers in North Central Nigeria were tested for anti-HCV markers using a third generation quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that uses recombinant proteins and synthetic peptides derived from core and non-structural regions.
29(12.2%, CI = 0.17-0.86) of the rural samples and 5(2.7%, CI = 0.01-0.06) of urban samples were positive for HCV infection. The highest number of infections was in the 21-40 years age category. Our preliminary findings indicates that the number of HCV infection in rural was higher (p = 0.03) when compared with urban settings in Nigeria.
Our results suggest a higher prevalence of HCV infection in rural than urban Nigeria in the region studied and possibly in Nigeria as a whole. HCV transmission is active in rural Nigeria and large scale studies to understand the dynamics of the infection are required so as to plan targeted preventive measures.
背景/目的：在尼日利亚城市社区的高危人群中，丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染的流行病学情况已得到部分描述。另一方面，关于该病毒在尼日利亚农村地区可能传播情况的文献仍然极为匮乏。本研究的目的是估计尼日利亚一个农村和城市社区中HCV的流行率。
使用第三代定量酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）对尼日利亚中北部238名农村居民和186名城市居民的424份血浆样本进行抗HCV标志物检测，该测定使用来自核心区和非结构区的重组蛋白和合成肽。
农村样本中有29份（12.2%，CI = 0.17 - 0.86）、城市样本中有5份（2.7%，CI = 0.01 - 0.06）HCV感染呈阳性。感染人数最多的是21 - 40岁年龄组。我们的初步研究结果表明，与尼日利亚城市地区相比，农村地区的HCV感染人数更高（p = 0.03）。
我们的结果表明，在所研究的地区以及可能在整个尼日利亚，农村地区HCV感染的流行率高于城市地区。HCV在尼日利亚农村地区的传播很活跃，需要进行大规模研究以了解感染动态，从而制定有针对性的预防措施。
