The HIV seropositivity in children with sickle cell Anaemia at Kenyatta National Hospital

Abstract

A total of 429 children comprising of previosly transfused sicklers and 231 non transfused control children were recriuted for the study. The transfused sicklers had received transfusion at least 6 months prior to the study. They all had a transfusion between 1982 and 1987. The control group comprised of 106 children with sickle cell disease and 125 children with Hb AA. All the children were tested for HIV using Wellcozyme ELISA test in duplicate. In the study, all the children were ELISA negative and hence the Western Blots were not carried out. All the HIV serological analysis were carried out at KEMRI-MRC which is the main National research centre for HIV studies in Nairobi. The results indicated that none of the transfused sicklers were HIV Seropositive. Similarly, none of the control children were HIV seropositve. From the study, it can be concluded that at the moment the sicklers seen at Kenyatta National Hospital, though subjected to repeated blood transfusions are not at a greater risk of being HIV seropositive than other non transfused children without without any other HIV associated risk factors. However, as the blood is associated with other hazards such as Hepatis B and the natural history of HIV is still not completely understood, liberal transfusions should be discouraged