Abstract
Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a major coinfection in HIV infected patients and it has emerged as an important cause of morbidity and mortality in this group since the start of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART).HIV/HBV coinfection prevalence varies by geographic region even within the same country. In Botswana the coinfection prevalence data is very sparse and what is reported varies. Ten HBV genotypes with some subgenotypes have been described differing by geographic distribution, course of disease, response to treatment and development of mutations. Even though data have shown that genotypes are predictive of disease outcome, the circulating HBV genotypes in Botswana remains unknown. Therefore this study aims at determining the HIV\HBV coinfection prevalence rate and the circulating HBV genotypes in Botswana.
Highlights
Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a major coinfection in HIV infected patients and it has emerged as an important cause of morbidity and mortality in this group since the start of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART)
Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was screened for in 300 baseline samples and those which were positive were screened for HBeAg
The HIV/HBV prevalence is consistent with what has been reported in the country
Summary
Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a major coinfection in HIV infected patients and it has emerged as an important cause of morbidity and mortality in this group since the start of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART). HIV/HBV coinfection prevalence varies by geographic region even within the same country. In Botswana the coinfection prevalence data is very sparse and what is reported varies. Ten HBV genotypes with some subgenotypes have been described differing by geographic distribution, course of disease, response to treatment and development of mutations. Even though data have shown that genotypes are predictive of disease outcome, the circulating HBV genotypes in Botswana remains unknown. This study aims at determining the HIV\HBV coinfection prevalence rate and the circulating HBV genotypes in Botswana
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