Seroprevalence of HIV infection in pregnant women in Amassoma, Nigeria

There is a rising prevalence of blood borne infections such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) world wide and especially so in developing countries. This study was conducted to establish the prevalence rate of HIV amongst pregnant women and to determine the risk to which their neonates are exposed to in this centre. Anonymous and unlinked blood samples of 277 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic between the period of January 2005 - December 2006 at the Amassoma General Hospital in Southern Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa State, located in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria were tested for HIV-1. They were aged between 15 and 44 years. The prevalence of HIV-1 in these pregnant women was 3.96%. The women responded to counseling and other preventive measures to ensure that the risk of vertical transmission was low.