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Introduction: Paslahepevirus balayani (Hepatitis E virus; HEV) is an emerging virus that poses as a public health threat. The virus is now reported to be the leading cause of acute viral hepatitis, with a unique impact on African settings. Our aim was to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors for HEV infection in three cohorts (animal handlers, villagers, and students). Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was carried out on a total of 752 subjects from southwestern Nigeria. In all individuals, anti-HEV IgG and anti-HEV IgM antibodies were evaluated by using ELISA (confirming positive results via immunoblotting), and serum viral RNA was evaluated by using two RT-PCR assays. Results: The overall seroprevalence of HEV IgG and HEV IgM was 14.9% (95% CI: 12.5-17.6%) and 1.3% (95% CI: 0.7-2.5%), respectively. We observed the highest seroprevalence among animal contact individuals, with butchers being the population with the highest HEV IgG seroprevalence (31.1%). Similarly, HEV IgM was higher in the animal contact group (2.2%) than in the non-animal contact cohort (0%). Discussions: Viral RNA was not detected in any of the samples. Butchering was significantly associated with higher HEV prevalence. Although all efforts to prevent HEV in Africa have focused on the chlorination of water, our study suggests that most new infections could currently be linked to animal manipulation. Therefore, education and guidelines must be provided in southwest Nigeria to ensure that animal handling and processing methods are safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: According to the World Health Organization, global dengue cases have continually increased in recent decades. In resource-poor countries, such as Nigeria, diagnoses are often missed, putting the general population at risk of significant mortality and morbidity. This study investigated exposure to dengue virus (DENV) and probable primary and secondary DENV infections among new undergraduates in Southwestern Nigeria. Methodology: Institutional-based retrospective study was carried out among 89 eligible undergraduates selected using systematic sampling method. The students were tested for the presence of DENV IgM and IgG antibodies using ELISA kits. Data were statistically analyzed using the SPSS software version 23.0 vis-a-vis their serologic results. Results: Students aged 15–33 years (mean age: 19.7 ± 2.9 years). Mean age of the 46 female students (19.8 ± 3.2 years) was comparable (p = 0.64) to that of the 43 males (19.5 ± 2.7 years). DENV IgM and IgG prevalence rates were 41.6% and 33.7%, respectively. Unlike DENV IgG prevalence, older age (18–33 years) and feminine gender were, respectively, associated with IgM positivity (p = 0.05 [odds ratio (OR) = 2.7]; p = 0.001 [OR = 4.7]). Probable primary and secondary DENV infections were 22.5% and 33.7%, respectively, with 43.8% of the students being susceptible to DENV infection. Those with primary infections not only stood the risk of secondary heterotypic infections with possibility of severe dengue but they might also be infectious to Aedes mosquitoes, thus further spreading the virus. Conclusions: The observed high antibody prevalence rates further establish local endemicity of dengue and calls for intensification of prevention efforts targeting the general population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a re-emerging pathogen causing long-term polyarthritis and encephalitis. In conducting a preliminary investigation, we hypothesized that there is no serologic evidence of CHIKV infection among attendees of selected hospitals in Lagos and Osun States, Nigeria. Sera from 304 consecutively selected participants were screened for CHIKV IgG and IgM using ELISA. Findings were analyzed vis-à-vis participants’ demographic and clinical data. Over 90.0% of the participants had never heard of CHIKV despite the fact that a large proportion of them (88.8%) had secondary/tertiary education. Overall, 41.8% were positive for, at least, one antibody type (IgG or IgM), while about 16.0% of the participants had dual seropositivity (CHIKV IgG and IgM) with gender as associated factor (odds ratio [OR]: 2.8,p = 0.03). Prevalence rates were 31.8% and 38.4% for CHIKV IgG and IgM, respectively. Only hospital location (Osogbo) was associated with CHIKV IgG (OR: 2.2,p = 0.009), while gender alone was associated with CHIKV IgM (OR: 3.0,p = 0.001). Participants seropositive for CHIKV antibodies were mostly adults (18–59 yrs) belonging to the active work-force; five (22.7%) and three (20.0%) of the pregnant participants had CHIKV IgG and IgM, respectively. Detection of CHIKV IgM in some participants might make them potentially infectious to the newborn and mosquito vectors. Importantly, participants positive for either IgG or IgM had fever (72.8%, 67.2%) and general body pains (61.7%, 57.6%), respectively. This ELISA-based study revealed serologic evidence of CHIKV infection among hospital attendees in Lagos and Osun states with the group-specific prevalence rates being considerably high. Abbreviations:Chikungunya virus (CHIKV); Chikungunya (CHIK); enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); immunoglobulin G or M (IgG/IgM); odds ratio (OR); non-structural proteins (nsP); hemagglutination inhibiting (HI); complement fixing (CF); neutralization test (NT); immunofluorescence assay (IFA); plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT); confidence interval (CI); analysis of variance (ANOVA); body temperature (BT); Building Nigeria’s Response to Climate Change (BNRCC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]