Prevalence of Hepatitis B virus coinfection among Human Immunodeficiency Virus positive patients in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) confection has been reported to impair negatively on the health of the patients because it impacts directly on the outcome of HBV infection, considerably complicating its natural history, diagnosis and management. This study was aimed at determining the incidence and distribution of HBV/HIV coinfection in the study area. Methods: The sera people living with HIV/AIDS were screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HB_sAg) and cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) cell counts using the Becton Dickinson Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorter procedure. Results: The prevalence of HBV co-infection among people living with HIV/AIDS in this study was 11% with the coinfection being higher in males (14.3%) compared to the 9.7% among females. The coinfection was highest among people ages 25-39 yr. (12.9%) while least occurrence of coinfection was observed in ages above 53 yr. (8.3%). The CD4 counts of HBV and HIV coinfected persons showed that 18.2% of coinfected persons had CD4 counts above 700-1000 cells/mm³ while 12.1% had CD4 counts between 501-700 cells/mm³. Conclusion: The relatively high prevalence of HBV infection in HIV patients confirms the need for baseline screening for these markers in HIV-infected patients, as this could affect the choice of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen for the patients.