Sero - Prevalence of Helicobacter Pylori in HIV Positive Patients and HIV Negative Controls in St. Paul’s General Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is recognized as a major human pathogen. Clinical symptoms associated with H. pylori infection have been reported in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A high, normal, and a lower sero - prevalence of H. pylori infection in HIV positive patients than negative controls was found in different studies. The aim of this study was to assess the sero - prevalence of H. pylori infection in HIV positive patients and negative controls and determine the impact of CD4 cell count in patients with H. pylori in St. Paul’s General Specialized Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods. A comparative cross sectional study was conducted in HIV positive patients and controls with gastrointestinal symptoms using Serology test kit (ACON ® H. pylori, USA). All individuals who came to Voluntary Counselling and Testing and Anti - Retroviral Therapy to the Out Patient Department of the hospital were examined for complaints of dyspepsia and those with the complaint were tested for H. pylori. Results. Of the 106 HIV positive subjects, 68 (64.2%) were positive for anti - H. pylori IgG antibodies; and of the 106 HIV negative controls, 52 (49.1%) were positive for anti - H. pylori IgG antibodies (p=0.037). There was no significant difference of H. pylori seroprevalence between relatively higher and lower CD4 cell counts in the HIV positive cases (p>0.05). Conclusion. A significantly higher seroprevalence of H. pylori was demonstrated in the HIV positive subjects. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of H. pylori between different CD4+ cell counts in the HIV positive study group.