Abstract

BackgroundHepatitis B is highly prevalent in the Philippines, with 17% of the population infected. With the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in the Asia-Pacific, 12% of HIV patients are HBsAg reactive. With the use of lamivudine and tenofovir-based antiretrovirals (ARVs), hepatitis B virus (HBV) treatment in co-infected HIV patients is not usually an issue. However, there is a potential to develop HBV resistance when patients are switched off tenofovir when antiretroviral resistance develops. With high rates of acquired K65R tenofovir resistance, the potential for inadvertently causing re-emergence of lamivudine-resistant HBV is present. We report two HIV patients with residual whole-genome HBV with lamivudine and telbivudine resistance mutations.MethodsAs part of a surveillance study on acquired drug resistance in the Philippines, samples with an HIV viral load >1,000 copies underwent Sanger sequencing of RT and PR for genotyping and HIV drug-resistance testing. Near-whole-genome next-generation sequencing (NGS) for HIV using Illumina HiSeq was also performed on these samples.ResultsTwo patients had coincidental whole-genome amplification of HBV on NGS (Table 1). HBV serology for both showed reactive anti-HBsAg and non-reactive HBsAg and Anti-HBc. The two HBV samples were genotype A and were resistant to lamivudine and telbivudine, with intermediate resistance to entecavir.ConclusionResidual HBV may be present in patients on ARVs. Antibody responses for HBV serology may not be very reliable in highly immunosuppressed patients. The potential of lamivudine-resistant HBV to emerge when HIV patients are shifted off tenofovir due to resistance in patients should be considered when deciding on second-line ARVs. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

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