Abstract
This study aims to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HIV infections among pregnant women visiting Healthcare Institutions within Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Blood samples were collected from 100 pregnant women who visited Rural Improvement Missionary Hospital (RIMH) and General Hospital (GHE) within Ebonyi State. The presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in serum was determined using Antec strips (Antec Diagnostics UK) while commercially available Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) based rapid diagnostic test kit (Biotech diagnostic, USA) was used to assay for HIV. Sixteen 16 (11.8%) of the pregnant women examined were sero-positive for HBV, 15(10%) were positive for HIV and 4% were positive for co-infection of HBV and HIV. Occupation was significantly associated with the prevalence of the hepatitis B co-infection in the population examined as 8.8% of housewives and 5.5% of business women had co-infection at p<0.05. The prevalence rate of 11.8% for HBV; 10% for HIV; and 4% for HBV and HIV co-infection reported in this study confirms the endemicity of HBV and HIV within the study area. This could cause serious public health problem if not properly tackled. Thus, it is very pertinent to carry out HBV and HIV screening as a routine in ante-natal care. Key words: Hepatitis B virus (HBV), HIV, pregnant women, co-infection.  
Highlights
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) are the two most common chronic viral infections in the world today
Out of 70 blood samples collected from pregnant women attending Rural Improvement Missionary Hospital (RIMH) Ndiagu Achara, the patients within the age range of 2327 years presented the highest HBV prevalence with a frequency of 6 (46.1%)
The total prevalence of HBV infection examined among pregnant women in RIMH is 18.6%
Summary
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) are the two most common chronic viral infections in the world today. The mode of transmission of Hepatitis B viral infection is via blood contact especially with the infected blood or fluids of an infected individual. Transmission can be via the blood, body fluids and close personal contact which includes an HBV/HIV carrier mother infecting her child usually during birth. Transmissions of HIV and HBV from mother to child occur from utero or may occur via blood contact or infected body fluids during birth (Mohammadi et al, 2009). This transmission is accountable for 35-50% of carrier’s cases. HBV replication has been inhibited due to lamivudine in 86.4% of HIV/HBV-co infected patients (WHO, 2008)
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