Baseline demographic, clinical and immunological profile of HIV-infected children at the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric hospital, Cameroon

Autor: Florence Soh Fru, Andreas Chiabi, Seraphin Nguefack, Evelyn Mah, Virginie Takou, Jean Baptiste Bogne, Marie Lando, Pierre-Fernand Tchokoteu, Elie Mbonda
Jazyk: English<br />French
Rok vydání: 2014
Předmět:
Zdroj: The Pan African Medical Journal, Vol 17, Iss 87 (2014)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1937-8688
DOI: 10.11604/pamj.2014.17.87.3264
Popis: INTRODUCTION: Approximately 2.5 million children below 15 years are infected with the HIV virus, with 90% in sub-Saharan Africa. The Yaounde Gynaeco-obstetric and Pediatric hospital has been a treatment center for HIV since 2006. The aim of this study was to analyze the baseline demographic, clinical and immunologic characteristics of the children with the HIV infection in this hospital. METHODS: It was a retrospective, cross- sectional and analytic study, carried out between January and April 2011 which included 61 HIV positive children aged 0-15 years. The socio-demographic, clinical and immunologic data were obtained from their medical records. RESULTS: Most (52.5%) of the children studied were above 60 months of age with a mean age of 71 months. Most (57.4%) were females. Mother-to-child transmission was the principal mode of contamination in 88.5% of cases. More than half of their mothers (55.7%) did not receive antiretroviral prophylaxis during pregnancy and labor. Common clinical findings included prolonged fever (44.6%), malnutrition (37.6%), lymphadenopathy (34.4%), respiratory tract infections (34.4%) and diarrhea (24.5%). Diagnosis was confirmed by HIV serology for most of the patients (93.4%). Polymerase chain reaction served as method of diagnosis in only 6.6% of the cases. HIV 1 was the predominant viral type. More than half of the children (52.5%) were seen at an advanced stage of the disease. CONCLUSION: HIV screening during pregnancy and prevention of mother-to-child transmission should be reinforced in this context, and fathers of HIV-infected children should be encouraged to go for HIV testing.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals