Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an autosomal recessive haemoglobin disorder, affecting about 7.74 million individuals worldwide, but it is more prevalent among Africans and Asians. SCD is characterised by many complications, and it is a major health issue in Nigeria, the country with the largest burden of the disease globally. This work aims to present the design and implementation of electronic registries (ER) for SCD in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Methods: Registry design was initiated during a staff exchange programme within the ARISE initiative (EU grant agreement no. 824021). Ethical approval was obtained, and paper records were retrieved and transferred into one adult and one paediatric database, developed with Microsoft Access. Results: Data from 2659 SCD patients were entered in the ERs, including 698 (26.3%) adults and 1961 (73.7%) children. There were 287 (41%) male adults, 404 (58%) female and 7 (1%) patients whose gender was missing. There were 1041 (53.1%) male children, 906 (46.2%) female and 14 (0.7%) whose gender was missing. Information on phenotype was available for 2385 subjects, and most of them (2082, 87.3%) were SS. The most prevalent SCD-related complication was painful events (26.6% in adults and 68.7% in children, considering valid cases). Conclusions: About 60% of SCD patients in the centre were included in the ERs providing useful, hands-on recommendations for future ER design in SCD. These ERs might be an appropriate tool for collecting and analysing SCD patients’ data.

Context: HIV is one of the sexually transmitted infections of viral origin.. It can be acquired through sexual assault incidents such as rape. Detection and confirmation of HIV in infected human blood stains found on the blood-stained clothes of sexual assault survivors are very important in forensic analysis, particularly in rape cases involving suspected HIV positive perpetrator and a HIV negative victim. The genetic relatedness between the HIV strain in the survivor and that in the suspect can be used in criminal prosecutions as evidence of responsibility for HIV transmission to the survivor.Aims: To determine the extent to which HIV antigens and antibodies can be detected on different blood stained clothes for rape cases, particularly in a no-suspect case. Materials and Methods: A case control clinic-based study of HIV positive patients (HIVPP) and HIV negative individuals (HIVNI) between the ages of 18 to 65 years was conducted. 10 HIVP samples spotted on clothing materials were tested consecutively after 1 month and after 4 months for the presence of HIV antibodies using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and 10 HIVNI were tested using the same method as well. Sero-positive HIVP considered as “subjects” and 10 HIVNI Sero-negative as “controls. HIV-1 RNA PCR (viral load) was done on all the subjects and controls.Statistical analysis used: Data analysis was conducted with SPSS version 23 statistical software, pvalue of ≤ 0.05 was considered as significant.Results: A total of 10 HIV positive samples from known adult HIV positive patients on antiretroviral (ART) drugs and 10 HIV negative individuals were studied. All the subject’s HIV ELISA results were positive to HIV and their Plasma HIV-1 RNA PCR was detectable in different concentrations. While that of controls was negative and undetectable.CONCLUSION: HIV antigens or antibodies are detectable using ELISA technique on 100% cotton, 50% cotton mixed with 50% polyester and 100% polyester clothing materials stained with HIV positive blood after four months found at room temperature in an open environment, but 100% cotton clothing material produced more accurate results as no much effect was noticed.Key Words: HIV virus, Blood stains, ELISA and HIV-1 RNA PCR

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) patients have increased susceptibility to infections, particularly encapsulated bacterial pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae type b. Hyposplenism as well as immune defects in SCD result in increased risks for infections; these are the most frequent complications in individuals with SCD. This study was performed within the African Research and Innovative initiative for Sickle cell Education (ARISE, EC GA No 824021) project to develop best practices in the clinical management of SCD. In this retrospective study we aimed to determine the most prevalent reported infections among SCD patients’ records during clinic visits at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria. Methods: The medical records of 1961 paediatric SCD patients from 1998 to 2023 were extracted and reviewed from a pilot electronic registry using a structural query. The data analysed patterns of infections reported during clinic visits at the ABUTH, Zaria, Nigeria. Results: 458 subjects (23.4%) manifesting at least one infection, of whom 392 (19.9%) subjects had a single infection (bacterial or parasitic) and 173 (8.8%) had more than one infection (bacterial and parasitic). Conclusions: Bacterial and parasitic infections are a significant complication of SCD patients attending a tertiary institution in northern Nigeria.