Abstract

Abstract

Background: Occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) is defined as serologically undetectable hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg-ve), despite the presence of circulating HBV DNA (Allain, 2005). It has been documented that one of the frequent complications of HIV infection is hepatitis B co-infection and due to the common methods of transmission of these two viruses, the incidence rate of co-infection is increasing (Chen et al., 2011)

Objective: To determine the prevalence of HBV serological markers among HIV infected patients

Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out among HIV positive patients at the Saint Mary’s Catholic Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State. One hundred and fifty (n = 150) blood samples were randomly collected from the people living with HIV who have given their informed consent. These samples were screened for hepatitis B serological markers (i.e. HBsAg, anti-HBs, HBeAg, HBeAb and anti-HBc) using a commercially available rapid test kit (Micropoint Diagnostics and Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Canada). 

Results:The number of subjects that tested positive to HBsAg were found to be 30. Among the HBsAg positive subjects, 6 tested positive for HBeAb and HBcAb, 2 tested positive for HBeAg and HBcAb, 2 tested positive for HBcAb only and 1 tested positive for HBeAg only.  Among the HBsAg negative subjects, 2 tested positive for HBsAb and HBeAb, 13 tested positive for HBsAb only, 1 tested positive for HBeAb only , 1 tested positive for HBeAg only and 122 has no serological marker.

Conclusion: HIV patients are less likely to clear HBV infection and develop natural immunity to it. Early screening of HIV patients on a regular basis will reduce the burden of disease caused by HBV-HIV co-infection in Nigeria