Seroprevalence of Epstein-Barr virus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus among patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the Yaounde General Hospital, Cameroon.

The non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs) are a diverse group of malignancies that originate in lymphoid cells, heterogeneous in clinical behavior, morphology, cellular origin, etiology, and pathogenesis. A viral infectious etiology had been associated with them. This study aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Hepatitis B virus (HBV), Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) among patients with NHL at the Yaoundé General Hospital (YGH). Participants for this cross-sectional study were recruited at the medical oncology unit from October 2018 to December 2019. For each patient fulfilling the inclusion criteria, five milliliters of blood were drawn at the crook of their elbows in EDTA tubes. Then, EBV, HIV, HBV, and HVC screening were done using the Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs); Bio-Rad EBV, Alere Determine HIV-1/HIV-2, HBV the best diagnostic and HVC Wondfo biotech respectively. Participants were made up of sixty-three males (69.23%) and twenty-eight females (30.77%). Their ages ranged from nineteen to seventy-eight years, with a mean ± SD of 56.5 ± 15.5. There were eight HIV patients (8.8%) followed by five EBV or HBV patients (5.5%). Three patients were coinfected with HIV+EBV (3.3%) while only two patients (2.2%) had HCV. Only HIV and EBV were seen coinfected. The presence of HBV and HCV in patients with NHL reveals the need to understand how these viruses induce lymphoproliferative diseases, more precisely, the non-Hodgkin´s lymphoma.

Seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus antigen in patients with chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma at 12th week of treatment: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: epidemiological data suggests that more than 50% of hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients fail treatment. The objective of the study was to highlight the seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus antigen (HCV Ag) at the 12th week of treatment. Methods: during a cross-sectional study, participants with chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were recruited between December 2020 and March 2022 at the Yaoundé General Hospital (HGY) and the University Teaching Hospital of Yaounde (UTHY). Five millilitres of blood samples were taken from each consenting participant and then a qualitative search for HCV Ag by Enzyme-Linked Immuno Assay (ELISA) was performed. Analysis of the results was performed using SPSS Version 25.0 software. Results: out of the 192 participants selected for the study, only 92 (47,9%) participants were at 12 weeks of treatment, including 69 (75%) participants positive for the hepatitis C virus antibody (HCV Ab) by RDT. Of these participants, 44 (47.8%) participants were positive for HCV Ag by ELISA, respectively 19/37 (51.3%), 14/19 (73.6%), 11/13 (84.6%) with chronic hepatitis (HC), Cirrhosis, and HCC (P<0.0001). Conclusion: our results showed a high prevalence of HCV Ag in patients at their 12th week of treatment which predicts treatment failure and calls for public policy to develop new management strategies to prevent HCV treatment failure in our context.