ISSN: 2639-2038
Authors: Yahaya I and Oti VB*
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Plasmodium Falciparum are two worldwide public health infectious agents and they are endemic in Nigeria. There is scarcity of published reports on HBV/P. falciparum coinfection among incarcerated persons in Nigeria. This was a pilot study carried out to determine the parallel and overlapping infection of HBV and falciparum malaria among inmates in the 2 correctional facilities in Keffi, Nigeria. In this cross-sectional study, blood samples were obtained from 300 incarcerated persons and were analyzed for HbsAg and P. falciparum using standard laboratory techniques. Information obtained were analyzed using Smith’s Statistical Package version 2.80. P value ≤ 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Out of the 300 inmates, 44(14.7%) tested positive for HBV and 174 (58.0%) for P. falciparum while 28 (9.3%) had HBV/P. falciparum coinfection. Overlapping infections of HBV and malaria were higher in females (13.3%) and among those aged less than 20 years old (12.0%). This study reported a statistically significant association between knowledge of transmission routes and malarial infection (p = 0.0221). Gender, age, duration in prison, history of blood transfusion and vaccination, and use of ITNs were not statistically associated with the infections (p> 0.05). The 9.3% HBV/falciparum malaria coinfection among incarcerated people in the area is alarming. Public health education and compulsory laboratory screening of the infectious agents in correctional centres should be advocated and implemented to curb the infections in Nigeria because ignorance of transmission routes was a risk factor among inmates in our study.
Keywords: HBV; Plasmodium Falciparum; Prison Inmate; Coinfection; Correctional Facility; Nigeria
