Abstract
Zimbabwe is highly endemic for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and also has high human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence rates which may result in HIV/HBV coinfection, and as HIV/HBV coinfection may affect the classical HBV serology patterns and cause interpretation challenges, we assessed the seroprevalence of HBV in HIV positive patients and determined their serology profiles. This was a cross-sectional study on 957 HIV positive specimens from treatment naive patients. HBV serology tests were done using enzyme immunoassays for the detection of HBV markers in human serum or plasma. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) prevalence was 17.1% (males 19.0%, females 15.8%). Previous and/or current HBV exposure was evident in 59.8% of the patients and hepatitis B e antigen markers were present in 103 (10.8%) specimens. There was high prevalence of unusual HBV patterns with 14.1% of total specimens showing an anti-HBc alone profile and an additional 4.3% HBsAg positive specimens that were anti-HBc negative.
Highlights
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can cause both acute and chronic disease and is the leading cause of viral hepatitis worldwide [1]
This piece of information will be important as the clinical impact of HBV infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive patients has progressively grown since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) given the increase in survival rates experienced by these patients who experience the effect of other chronic infections such as HBV
We determined the prevalence of HBV serology markers in a cohort of 957 HIV positive individuals from Zimbabwe and interpreted their HBV serology profiles. This was a cross-sectional study in HIV positive patients initiating tenofovir (TDF) and lamivudine (3TC) combination therapy as part of HAART in specimens collected between the years 2003 and 2009
Summary
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can cause both acute and chronic disease and is the leading cause of viral hepatitis worldwide [1]. Some studies in sub-Saharan Africa have shown no major increase of HBV prevalence in HIV patients [5] other studies have reported higher HBV prevalence in HIV patients [6, 7]. This piece of information will be important as the clinical impact of HBV infection in HIV positive patients has progressively grown since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) given the increase in survival rates experienced by these patients who experience the effect of other chronic infections such as HBV. HIV/HBV coinfected patients have increased risk of progression to end stage liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma [11]
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