The co-prevalence of Hepatitis and Malaria in Patients Attending a Major Tertiary Healthcare in North Central, Nigeria.

Background Many developing countries in Africa have shown high prevalence of malaria, HBsAg and HCV in recent times. The presence of these diseases in a population have caused severe public health problems worldwide. This study investigates the prevalence of malaria, Hepatitis B (HBsAg) and Hepatis C (HCV) in patients attending Bishop Murray Medical Centre (BMMC). Methods Blood specimens were collected from two hundred and forty eight, 248 patients from BMMC, Makurdi and were screened for malaria, HBsAg and HCV using rapid serological kits. High prevalence of malaria, HBsAg and HCV was observed among the patients. Results Malaria had a prevalence of 29.1%. prevalence of HBsAg. Prevalence of malaria was 29.4% (n = 73/248) in BMMC, Makurdi, prevalence of HBsAg was 5.2% (n = 13/248) and prevalence of HCV was 4.0% (n = 10/248) in BMMC. The prevalence of malaria according to clinical manifestation of patients attending BMMC, Makurdi is shown in table 6, 28.5% of patients who complained of fever tested positive for malaria while 71.5% of fever patients were negative. Prevalence of malaria was 32.0% in patients experiencing headache, while 68.0% were negative. Those with backpain had no malaria (0.0%), persistent crying also had no malaria (0%), hotness of body (100%), blurred vision (100%), stomach pain (100%) and joint pain all had 100% prevalence rates respectively. The difference in the prevalence rate of malaria according to clinical manifestation was not statistically significant (p > 0.05; p = 0.272). Conclusions Prevalence of Malaria, HBsAg and HCV was high in Benue State. Findings of this study provide a critical data to assess the impact of current prevention and control strategies in Nigeria, and serve as a reference for designing and implementing effective public health management programmes towards the 2030 elimination goal of the diseases.