Prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) co-infection among the primitive Koma Tribe in Nigeria

Abstract

The Koma tribes are a group of isolated and primitive people along the mountains bordering Nigeria and Cameroun with over 70% of the population still on the mountains. Two communities were selected for the study (n=160). One homogeneous community by the foot of the mountains, predominantly Koma (n=86), while the other was a heterogeneous population, about 3 Kilometers from the homogeneous community (n=74) screened for Hepatitis B and HIV respectively.15% of the population (6.25% female, 8.75% male) tested positive for Hepatitis B while 7.5% (4.4% female, 3.1% male) tested positive for HIV. 11.25% and 3.75% of the Hepatitis B occurred in the homogeneous and heterogeneous populations respectively. 3.1% and 4.4% of the homogeneous and heterogeneous groups tested positive for HIV respectively. Two of the samples in the homogeneous population were Hepatitis B and HIV co- infected. This study has shown that HIV has eaten deep into all nooks and crannies and even to the most remote societies like Koma. The presence of about 15% of hepatitis B virus infection can fan the progression of HIV to AIDS with no or very poor medical services.

Keywords: Koma people, Hepatitis B, Homogeneous and Heterogeneous