Hematological Determinant of Viral Load Suppression among Children Living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria

Introduction

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) often have pan-systemic manifestations, with the hematological system being one of the most affected. Viral load is the gold standard for monitoring the progress of HIV. This study aimed to determine the association between the hematological profile and the viral load among HIV infected children in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria Methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving 155 HIV infected children (aged 6 weeks to 18 years) on Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART). The hematological profile was determined using an automated hemoanalyzer, while viral load was estimated using COBASR Ampliprep and the COBASR TaqmanR 49 analyzer. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results