Author(s)

Angue Tatiana Harly Mba Aki^1,2*, Emmanuel Anyunzoghe³, Emmanuel Anyunzoghe³, Patrice Emery Itoudi Bignoumba⁴, Stéphanie Ndjillekissa Ndjié², Christian Agaya⁵, Emmanuel Mve Mengome¹

¹Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, USS, Libreville, Gabon.
²CHU Owendo, Libreville, Gabon.
³Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, USS, Libreville, Gabon.
⁴Department of Hepato-Gastroenterology, Libreville, Gabon.
⁵National Program to Fight Blindness, Libreville, Gabon.

Introduction: The safety issue of mass surgeries in areas of higher endemicity for HIV, HBV and HCV is raised. Objective: The objective was to determine the frequency of HIV, HBV and HCV among people undergoing a cataract surgery during humanitarian surgical mission. Patients and Method: This prospective study was conducted at CHU Owendo from April to September 2018. Cataract-operated patients were the targeted population. Rapid screening tests were used for diagnosis. Parameters such as age, sex, frequency of HIV, HBV, HCV, and co-infections were analyzed. Sero-positivity was correlated with age and sex. A total of 1403 patients were included. Statistical analysis was performed with EPI Info 7.2 (Chi² uncorrected, Mann-Whitnney and Wilcoxon, p < 0.05). Results: Patients mean age was 66.3 ± 11.6 years; 42.1% of them were male. With 18.0% of the study population, HIV-positive people had mean age of 78.4 ± 9.3 years, compared to 61.2 ± 10.1 years for sero-negative (p < 0.001). HIV prevalence was 4.6% (95% CI = [3.7 - 5.9]), HBV was 2.9% (95% CI = [2.1 - 3.9]), and HCV was 11.8% (95% CI = [10.2 - 13.6]). Co-infections occurred in 1.2% (95% CI = [0.8 - 1.9]) of patients undergoing surgery. Conclusion: This study showed high prevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV among patients undergoing cataract surgery with predominance for HCV. Viral co-infections prevalence was also significant.

HIV, HCV, HBV, Surgery, Cataract, Libreville

Mba Aki, A. , Anyunzoghe, E. , Anyunzoghe, E. , Itoudi Bignoumba, P. , Ndjillekissa Ndjié, S. , Agaya, C. and Mengome, E. (2019) Seroprevalence of HIV, Hepatitis B and C Viruses Infections among Candidates for Cataract Surgery. Open Journal of Ophthalmology, 9, 47-53. doi: 10.4236/ojoph.2019.92006.