Frequency of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Among Students of Tertiary and Secondary Institutions in An Endemic State

BACKGROUND: Students are pivotal to manpower development and technological advancement of any nation. Nigerian nation was recently ranked third human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) most endemic nation in the world AIM: The study was designed to determine the frequency of HIV infection among Nigerian tertiary and secondary institution students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A HIV screening test was conducted on 1,978 apparently healthy students composed of 981 males and 997 females aged 11–35 years, randomly selected from some Nigerian tertiary and secondary institutions RESULTS: Overall, the sero-prevalence rate of 13.7% was recorded consisting 9.9% in the tertiary and 3.8% in secondary institutions. The distribution of the infection showed no significant difference by age (χ(2)=1.07, P>0.05) and by gender (χ(2)=0.85, P>0.05). Also, the prevalence had no significant association with the settlement of students (χ(2)=0.96, P>0.05) and the status of educational institutions (χ(2)=1.42, P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The findings indicate a high HIV prevalence rate among students in this part of the globe. General behavioral changes about sex among the students are suggested.