Prevalence of Hepatitis B Virus among Hiv Positive Patients Attending Specialist Hospital Sokoto, Nigeria

Prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection among HIV patients attending Sokoto specialist Hospital, Sokoto state, Nigeria was carried out between June and July, 2012, using Diaspot HbsAg kit (preliminary test) and Biorex Diagnostic ELISA kit (Confirmatory test). Demographic data, clinical characteristics and laboratory results (Questionnaire, CD4 counts and HBsAg) were analyzed. Out of 140 HIV patients tested for hepatitis B surface Antigen (HBsAg) only 19 individuals were found positive given the prevalence rate of 13.6% (19/140) among HIV patients. The statistical analysis has shown that there was no observable statistical significant difference between demographic data, clinical characteristics and risk factors with respect to HBV infection. Two of the 140 HIV patients were in the chronic stage of the infection giving a prevalence of 1.43% and two of the patients were at the acute stage of the infection with a percentage prevalence of 1.43% while the remaining fifteen patients were in the active stage of the infection. There was no statistically significant relationship between the mean CD4 counts (428cells/μl of blood) in HIV monoinfected patients and the mean CD4 counts (391.1579cells/μl of blood) in HBV/HIV co-infected individuals (t=22.1351,df=1,p-value=0.02874,95 percent confidence interval: 174.435 – 644.5648, mean=409.5). Therefore, HIV patients should be screened for HBV during their clinical visit in order to inform clinical management, also adequate care and support programs should be organized to help people living with both infections.