HIV infection and hepatitis B seroprevalence among antenatal clinic attendees in Niger, West Africa

This transversal study was suggested in order to estimate the nationwide seroprevalences of HIV infection and hepatitis B among 495 pregnant women in Niger in 2008. The study detected anti-HIV antibodies with Genscreen (R) Plus HIV Ag/Ab Ultra Kit (Bio-Rad; Hercules, CA), Vironostika (R) HIV Uni-Form II Ag/Ab (bioMerieux; Marcy-l'Etoile, France), and ImmunoComb (R) II HIV 1 and 2 BiSpot (Orgenics; Yavne, Israel). HBsAg was detected by Monolisa (R) HBsAg Ultra (Bio-Rad) and ImmunoComb (R) II HBsAg (Orgenics). The rates obtained were 2.02% (95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.03%-3.81%) and 16.16% (95% CI: 13.09%-19.77%), respectively. There were no significant variations according to environment, region, age, marital status, educational level, antecedent of surgery and transfusion. But these data need a large sample, and periodic updates for a better planning of activities in the framework of a national reproductive health program, including prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission.