Evaluation of the Relationship between Clinical Outcome of Early Neonatal Sepsis and HIV Exposure in Homa bay County Referral Hospital, Western Kenya

Abstract

Abstract Background: Maternal HIV is the leading cause of both maternal and child morbidity in Sub-Saharan Africa and very little is known about the relationship of HIV exposure and early neonatal sepsis. Objective: To describe the association between maternal HIV and probable or confirmed early neonatal sepsis in Homa Bay County Referral Hospital, Western Kenya. Design: Hospital based cross- sectional study. Study Setting: Homa Bay County Referral Hospital. Subjects/Participants: One hundred and forty two (142) neonates aged 24 hours to 96 hours. Results: Data purposively collected included, characteristics of women and newborns at enrollment, by maternal HIV status and HIV- positive women and their newborns, prevalence of probable or confirmed sepsis, factors in association between maternal HIV infection and probable sepsis in newborns and associations between HIV exposure and probable or confirmed sepsis among newborns and HIV-exposed newborns, 0(0.00%) HIV-positive by 24-hours PCR, prevalence of positive culture 1.6% in HIV-exposed, 1.7% HIV-unexposed with a prevalence ratio: 1.11 (95% CI: 0.05, 8.00) p-value = 0.8615. There was no statistical relationship between clinical outcomes of early neonatal sepsis to HIV exposure. Conclusion: There was no association between maternal HIV and probable or confirmed early neonatal sepsis in Homa Bay County Referral Hospital, Western Kenya. Keywords: Maternal HIV; Neonatal sepsis; Mother-to-child transmission