Qualitative assessment of caustic soda injury in Liberia.

OBJECTIVES: This study explored lye (caustic soda, sodium hydroxide) use in Liberia, knowledge about its risks and injury prevention programmes. DESIGN: A qualitative semistructured interview study. SETTING: Focus groups occurred in six Liberian counties between April and August 2016. PATIENTS: Two previously identified stakeholder groups included parents of children under 5 years and adults identifying as soap makers. INTERVENTIONS: Interview guides were written. Participants were recruited by convenience and snowball sampling. Transcribed audio-recorded discussions were analysed using the constant comparative approach. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants were enrolled until thematic saturation was reached. RESULTS: Ninety-six adults participated. Participants described how lye entered the home, its use, storage, lye-related injuries and treatments, and injury prevention programmes. CONCLUSIONS: Lye is commonly used and stored in Liberian homes despite recognition of its danger. A successful injury prevention programme must interrupt this cycle and find programming and legislative change to which the community is receptive.

Likely effect of the 2014 Ebola epidemic on HIV care in Liberia.

OBJECTIVE: Liberia's health system has been severely struck by the 2014 Ebola epidemic. We aimed to assess the potential effect of this epidemic on the care of HIV patient in two clinics [John F. Kennedy (JFK) and Redemption Hospitals] in Monrovia, which stayed open throughout the epidemic. DESIGN AND METHODS: A preexisting electronic database of HIV patient's follow-up visits was used to estimate three weekly parameters from January 2012 to October 2014: number of visits, number of new patient, and proportion of patients with follow-up delay. We used segmented negative binomial regressions to assess trends before and after the week of the Ebola outbreak defined in June 2014 by WHO. RESULTS: The cumulative number of patients in care comprised 5948 patients with a total of 56 287 visits between January 2012 and October 2014. From June 2014, the number of visit per week, stable since 2012, abruptly decreased (59%) in Redemption (P < 0.001) and progressively decreased by 3% per week in JFK (P < 0.001). In both the clinics, the weekly proportion of patient with follow-up delay sharply increased after the point break from June 2014 (P value < 0.001). From June 2014, a significant decrease in new patients per week occurred in both the clinics: by 57% (P value < 0.001) in Redemption and by 4.6% per week (P value < 0.001) in JFK. CONCLUSION: The Ebola epidemic had a significant effect on HIV care in Monrovia. Given the particular impact on the rate of patients with follow-up delay, a long-term impact is feared.

Prevalence of HIV-1 drug resistance among patients failing first-line ART in Monrovia, Liberia: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of acquired drug resistance in HIV-1-infected patients living in Monrovia, Liberia, who had clinical and/or immunological failure of first-line ART according to WHO criteria. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients receiving ART for >1 year with clinical and/or immunological failure were included. Sequencing of protease and reverse transcriptase regions was performed using Agence Nationale de Recherche sur le SIDA et les hépatites virales (ANRS) procedures and sequences were interpreted using the ANRS resistance algorithm. RESULTS: Ninety patients were enrolled. They had been receiving ART for a median time of 42 months and half were receiving zidovudine/lamivudine/nevirapine. Seventy-five per cent of patients were infected with CRF02_AG. Twenty-seven per cent of patients displayed a plasma viral load <50 copies/mL. Among the 66 patients with detectable viraemia, the median viral load was 4.7 log10 copies/mL (IQR = 3.0-5.6). The prevalence of NRTI and NNRTI resistance-associated mutations (RAMs) was 63% and 71%, respectively; and the median number of NRTI and NNRTI RAMs was 2 and 3, respectively. Two patients (4%) displayed viruses with PI RAMs. Regarding NRTI drug resistance, 29%, 38%, 63%, 29% and 25% of patients had viruses resistant to zidovudine, stavudine, lamivudine/emtricitabine, abacavir and tenofovir, respectively. Regarding the NNRTI drug class, 56%, 65%, 33% and 42% of patients had viruses resistant to efavirenz, nevirapine, etravirine and rilpivirine, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of acquired drug resistance in patients followed in two centres of the Liberian capital city, documented after a median of 3 years on a first-line ART regimen, jeopardizes the activity of second-line regimens and highlights the need for virological monitoring in these settings.

Short communication: Prevalence of HIV-1 transmitted drug resistance in Liberia.

No data on HIV-transmitted drug resistance (TDR) are available in Liberia in which the HIV prevalence in the general population is estimated at 1.5%. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of TDR in HIV-1 from recently diagnosed and untreated patients living in Monrovia, Liberia. The study was performed in the John F. Kennedy Medical Center and in the Redemption Hospital, both located in Monrovia. All newly HIV-1 diagnosed patients attending voluntary counseling testing centers and antiretroviral therapy naive were consecutively included. Protease and reverse transcriptase (RT) regions sequencing was performed using the ANRS procedures (www.hivfrenchresistance.org). Drug resistance mutations (DRM) were identified according to the 2009 updated WHO surveillance DRM list. Among the 116 HIV-1-infected patients enrolled in the study, 85 (73%) were women. Protease and RT sequencing was successful in 109 (94%) and 102 (88%) samples, respectively. Seventy-five (66%) patients were infected with CRF02_AG. One DRM was observed in six samples, leading to a TDR prevalence of 5.9% (CI 95%=1.7-10.1). DRM were observed in two patients (2.0%; CI 95%=0.0-4.7), four patients (3.9%; CI 95%=0.1-7.7), and one patient (0.9%; CI 95%=0.0-2.7) for nucleoside RT inhibitors (NRTI), non-NRTI (NNRTI), and protease inhibitors, respectively. Overall, one patient exhibited dual class-resistant viruses, harboring NRTI and NNRTI resistance mutations (1.0%; CI 95%=0.0-2.9). This first survey study in Liberia reported a TDR prevalence of 5.9%, classified as moderate according to the WHO criteria, indicating that further surveillance is warranted to follow the level and evolution of TDR prevalence in recently HIV-1 diagnosed patients.