Epidemiology of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C Virus infections among HIV counseling and testing clients in Jos, North central Nigeria

Abstract

Hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infection are common in Nigeria; where they are a major cause of both acute and chronic liver disease, as well as hepatocellular cancer. Persons at risk of acquisition of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection are also at risk of acquisition of infection with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV). We set out to determine the epidemiology of HBV and HCV infection among HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) clients at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Nigeria.This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the HCT unit of the AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN) Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Jos, Nigeria between November, 2012 and April 2013.Subjects were recruited consecutively at the HCT unit of APIN JUTH. Included were subjects 18 years of age and above, antiretroviral (ARV) drug naive, who accepted and signed the consent form.Clients who declined to sign the consent form were excluded. The study involved collecting demographic data, exposure to risk factors and laboratory determination of HBV and HCV sero-prevalence in the subjects using Enzyme Linked Immunoassay (ELISA) and Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay methods.Chi-squared test was used to determine significance of association between categorical variables.One hundred and thirty two (56.9%) were females, 100 (43.1%) were males. Thirty six (15.5%) tested positive for HBsAg by ELISA, 31 (13.4%) were confirmed positive by DNA PCR. Nine (3.9%) tested positive by ELISA to HCV antibody, 7 (3.0%) were confirmed positive by RNA PCR. Co-infection rate of HIV / HBV was 5.2%. Infection was more common among those younger than 36 years in the case of HBV and those older than 36 years in the case of HCV.We concluded the prevalence of HBV infection was high. Study was limited by the cross sectional design.