Prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Syphilis, Hepatitis B, and Risk Factors Among Truck Drivers in Tema, Ghana

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and syphilis infections have now spread to all parts of the world, and the rate of infection is found to be high in the cities with high number of mobile populations. One of such mobile populations is long distance truck drivers. Although studies from Asia, Europe, USA, and elsewhere have documented high prevalence of HBV, HIV and syphilis infections among truck drivers (long and short distance), such data are sparse from Africa. To my knowledge there is no such data from Ghana. This study investigates the prevalence of HIV, HBV, syphilis and the risk factors among truck drivers using the seaport at Tema. The study is a cross sectional study carried out between the months of March, 2013 and June, 2013 among truck drivers at Tema seaport. All the 106 consenting participants completed a structured questionnaire assessing socio-demographic characteristics and risk factor profile for the infections under investigation. Blood samples from consenting participants were tested at the Public Health Reference Laboratory, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana for the presence of antibodies to HIV-1 and 2, using Genscreen™ ULTRA HIV Ag-Ab (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA). Antibodies to syphilis was tested using [T. pallidum haemagglutination assay (TPHA) test; Serodia Fujirebio]. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was tested using Roche COBAS e411 analyzer with elecsys HBsAg II quant test (Roche Diagnostics, Germany). A total of 1250 truck drivers (Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian residents) at the Tema port were eligible for the study, however 106 (8.4%) of the eligible took part in the study. None of the foreign citizens (non-Ghanaian residents) took part in the study. The mean age of the participants was 40.56 ± 11.56 years (range: 18–74 years). For the 106 participants tested, HIV sero- prevalence was 0.98% (1 out of 106), 14.2% (15 out of 106) tested seropositive for HBsAg and reactive syphilis serology was noted in 3.8% (4 out of 106) of the participants. On multivariant analysis, the independent determinants for HBV infection were being a long distance driver [Odds Ratio (OR): 6.88; 95% CI 0.86-52.89], having multiple sexual partners (OR: 6.36; 95% CI 1.35 - 29.79) and previous visit to commercial sex worker (OR: 6.85; 95% CI: 0.89-52.89). Interestingly, knowledge of HIV, HBV and syphilis infections and preventive measures were high among the truck drivers.The data indicates a low HIV prevalence among truck drivers in Ghana, however the high prevalence of HBV and syphilis coupled with their risky behaviour suggest an increase potential risk of HIV in the truck driving population in Ghana.