Abstract

Study Background: Unplanned Teenage pregnancy out of wedlock could be as a result or cause psychosocial and economic challenges which may make the affected teenager susceptible to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Aim and Objective:This work was designed to determine the relationship between teenage pregnancy out of wedlock, CD4+ count and viral sero-immunochemical pattern of HIV-1 p24 antigen. Materials and Methods: This work was carried out among 25 pregnant teenagers aged 17 – 19 years postdelivery( n=9) and post abortion(n=16) and 25 teenagers aged 15 – 19 years who have never been pregnant were recruited as control subjects. Standard interview was administered to each of the subjects to obtain socio-economic and demographic information.HIV-1 p24 antigen was determined in the subjects by ELISA while CD4+ count was enumerated in the subjects by cyflowmetry. Results: The frequency of HIV-1p24 gag antigen was higher in Pregnant teenagers studied post-abortion(31.3%) than the frequency of 11.1% and 4% obtained in Pregnant teenagers studied post-delivery and Non- pregnant female teenagers respectively. The frequency of HIV-1p24 gag antigen in Pregnant teenagers studied postdelivery was higher than the results obtained in Non- pregnant female teenagers (11.1% Vs 4%).There was a significantly lower CD4+ count in the HIV-1p24 gag antigen positive Pregnant teenagers aged 17 – 19 years post-delivery(n=1) than HIV-1p24 gag antigen positive Pregnant teenagers aged 17 – 19 years post-abortion (n=5) and HIV-1p24 gag antigen positive Non-pregnant female teenagers aged 15 – 19 years(n=1) with p<0.05. There was also a significantly lower CD4+ count in HIV-1p24 gag antigen positive Pregnant teenagers aged 17 – 19 years post-abortion (n=5) than the HIV-1p24 gag antigen positive Non-pregnant female teenagers aged 15 – 19 years(n=1) with p<0.05.Conclusion:This work has been used to reveal that unplanned pregnancy out of wedlock could increase the frequency of HIV-1p24 gag antigen and deplete CD4+ count in the affected teenagers

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