Selected hematological profiles of human immune Deficiency virus and malaria parasites co-infected Adult individuals on highly-active anti-retroviral Therapy in bonga gebretsadik shawo general hospital, Southwest ethiopia: comparative cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: - Malaria and Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) are the two most common infectious diseases with enormous public health consequences in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide. Co-infection with malaria and HIV/AIDS worsens the consequences and increases the severity and mortality rates of both diseases. One of the causes of the increased mortality rate in individuals co-infected with malaria and HIV/AIDS is the ability of these diseases to alter the hematological profiles of co-infected people. A better understanding of alterations in hematological profiles of HIV-malaria co-infected patients could help in the diagnosis and prompt treatment of malaria among HIV-infected patients and to develop targeted prevention and control strategies as well. Objective : - To determine the selected hematological profiles of HIV-malaria parasites co- infected adult individuals on Highly-Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy in Bonga Gebretsadik Shawo General Hospital, June 13- November 3 /2022 G.C. Method : Hospital based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted involving a total of 196 HIV positive patients (98 HIV infected and 98 HIV-malaria co-infected) in Bonga General Hospital. Five ml of venous blood was collected and parasite detection, parasite density estimation, viral load and complete blood count were performed. The socio-demographic data were collected using structured questionnaire and clinical data were collected through blood film examination, Complete blood count (CBC) results from the Siemens (ADVIA 560, UK) CBC analyzer machine and viral load results sent from Jimma University Medical Center and entered into Epi-data 3.1. Then the data generated was exported into SPSS V-25 and STATA V-16 and analyzed. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test and spearman’s correlation tests were performed using SPSS V-25 and STATA V-16. P value of <0.05 was set as a cutoff point of significance. Results: A total of 196 adult people living with HIV were included in the study. The mean values of hematological profiles were found to be lower in HIV-malaria co-infected than in HIV mono- infected individuals with total white blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocyte, basophils, red blood cells, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean cell volume, mean cell hemoglobin concentration and platelets having the mean (+SD) of 4.52(+1.43), 2.27(+1.04), 1.42(+0.58), 0.43(+0.31), 0.07(+0.12), 3.7(+1.02), 10.53(+2.95), 30.1(+8. 35), 77.5(+7.15), 34.5(+3.74), 15.75(+6.00), 221.7 (+119.9) respectively in co-infected individuals. Parasite density and viral load also negatively correlated to hematological profiles in co-infected groups. Conclusions and recommendations : Our findings showed that the mean values of hematological profiles are significantly lower in co-infected than the HIV infected participants. But further studies with larger sample size from other settings are required to substantiate the findings in the future