Abstract

This study aimed at evaluating the fertility status of naive Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome-infected females of child bearing age. The medical Ethical Committee of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu, approved the study and the patients’ informed consents were obtained prior to sample collection. The subjects used in the study were 80 HIV-positive females aged between 20 and 35 years at the PEPFAR, HIV clinic, UNTH, Enugu. Samples from 80 apparently healthy non-HIV positive age-matched female volunteers served as the control group. The blood samples were collected using standard methods. HIV re-screening and confirmation were carried out using WHO HIV test algorithm. Automated method using Flow cytometry was used for the enumeration of CD4+ T Lymphocytes while hormone analyses were carried out using competitive ELISA methods. In this study, serum oestradiol and progesterone levels of the patients were significantly lower (p< 0.001) than that of the control. Their respective levels in patients with CD4 ≥ 500 cells/µl, however, showed no significant difference (p>0.05) respectively when compared with the control. The blood CD4 count of the patients showed a significant decrease (p <0.001) compared with the control. The intra-batch variation for serum oestradiol and progesterone were 0.53 and 1.30%, respectively while their respective inter-batch variations were 1.40 and 6.8%.

Key words: Progesterone, oestrogen, CD4+-T lymphocytes and Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome-infected, HIV/AIDS.