HIV Seropositivity among Paediatric Surgical Patients at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital: What Risk to the Surgeon

Background: Although much concern has been expressed about the occupational risk posed to surgeons by the HIV pandemic infection, the paediatric age group is often seen as less likely to harbor the disease. Aim: To determine the HIV infection rate among children presenting for surgical operations at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos. Materials, patients and method: Blood was taken from 1000 consecutive children referred to LUTH for surgical conditions and tested for HIV sero-positivity using the Western blot method. Consenting parents of sero-positive patients were also tested. Result: Five children tested positive for HIV, giving an overall infection rate of 0.5%. Four mothers and three consenting fathers were also positive. In one child, none of the parents was positive and he was suspected to have developed the disease from a previous blood transfusion prior to presentation in LUTH. This possibly resulted from transfusion of infected blood during its window period. Conclusion: Although the HIV infection rate of 0.5% in paediatric surgical group in Lagos is low, surgeons should vigilantly apply universal precautions to prevent needle-stick injuries while the rate of HIV infection should be periodically monitored to determine the trend.