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Abstract Background Highly active antiretroviral drug therapy (HAART) remains the only officially available option for the management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection at designated medical institutions in Nigeria. This study investigated the impact of HAART on glucose level, lipid profile, blood parameters and growth indices of HIV-infected patients at a tertiary health center in Nigeria. Biochemical and hematologic indices were determined in HIV patients on HAART at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo, Nigeria. Plasma glucose and lipid profile were biochemically determined in 140 age-matched individuals divided into three groups: Group I (n = 70) comprised seventy clinically diagnosed and laboratory-confirmed HIV-positive patients before receiving HAART (HIV-positive group); Group II (n = 70) comprised the same set of HIV-positive patients who had received HAART for 1 year (HAART group); and Group III (n = 70) comprised healthy controlled subjects who proved HIV-negative (HIV-negative group). Growth indices were used to monitor the changes in immune response (white blood cell counts) of the HIV-infected patients. Results HAART ameliorated reduced body mass index and disorder in white blood cell counts but not dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia caused by HIV infection. Results confirmed the effectiveness of HAART in preventing the development of full-blown acquired immune deficiency syndrome in HIV-positive patients. However, increases in cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels coupled with increased atherogenic index occasioned by HAART portend the risk of cardiovascular disease. Conclusions HIV infection has a negative impact on the anthropometric, hematologic and biochemical indices of patients. Although HAART is helpful to improve anthropometric and hematological indicators, there is a need to improve drug regimens to reduce or eliminate undesirable metabolic complications.

Copyright of African Journal of Reproductive Health is the property of Women's Health & Action Research Centre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of African Journal of Reproductive Health is the property of Women's Health & Action Research Centre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of African Journal of Reproductive Health is the property of Women's Health & Action Research Centre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of African Journal of Reproductive Health is the property of Women's Health & Action Research Centre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of African Journal of Reproductive Health is the property of Women's Health & Action Research Centre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of African Journal of Reproductive Health is the property of Women's Health & Action Research Centre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objectives HIV rapid antibody tests are widely used in Africa, but dual testing sometimes produces discordant results. It is not clear if discordant rapid HIV tests should always heighten suspicion by frontline health workers that early HIV infection is present. Some studies have reported that discordant rapid tests have value for identifying early HIV infection in high HIV prevalence populations. It is not known if rapid test performance influenced this conclusion, or if this observation will hold true for low HIV prevalence populations. We therefore explored the occurrence of discordant rapid HIV tests in a low-resource community. Methods A cross-sectional sample of HIV status-unaware adults with recent exposure to unsafe sex was assessed using a validated risk-based tool (University of North Carolina (UNC)-Malawi Risk Screening Score) for acute HIV infection. Participants received rapid testing with Determine™ HIV 1/2 and Uni-Gold™ HIV assays, plus plasma HIV-1 antigen testing with the COBAS® Ampliprep/ COBAS® Taqman® HIV-1 assay, followed by western blot in those with detected HIV-1 antigen. Results Of 408 participants, 1.0% were confirmed to have established HIV infection. The discordance between rapid tests at initial screening was 2.45 and 2.94% when the two assays were used sequentially and simultaneously, respectively. Discordant rapid tests were strongly associated with risk scores > 2 [odds ratio ( OR) 10.88; 95% confidence interval ( CI) 2.35-50.43], and with detected HIV-1 RNA ( OR 26.06; 95% CI 3.91-173.60). Conclusions When the sample occurrence of discordance between the first and second tests is below 5%, discordant rapid tests in an adult with sexual risk behaviour should trigger strong suspicion of early HIV infection in low HIV prevalence populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study determined the effect of adherence to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on body mass index (BMI) and immunological and virological parameters of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) attending University College Hospital, Ibadan. Methodology: Prospective cohort of consenting PLWHA was followed up for a minimum of 3 months, had their drug adherence determined using pharmacy records and self-reporting. The sociodemographic data, weight, height, plasma viral load and CD4 count were recorded at baseline and 3 months. These data were entered into the computer and analyzed. Results: A total of 318 PLWHA with a median age of 38 ±9.6 years participated. Fifty-four percent were female. Sixty-three percent were 95% adherent to HAART. Most (99.4%) were on nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based therapy. There was a remarkable fall in viral load to non-detectable levels among adherent compared with non-adherent PLWHA. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in CD4 count among adherent compared with non-adherent PLWHA. Adherent clients showed marked improvement in BMI and immunological and virological status. Conclusion: Adherence to HAART reduced viral load to an undetectable level and increased CD4 count among adherent PLWHA on HAART. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of African Journal of Reproductive Health is the property of Women's Health & Action Research Centre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)