Abstract
IntroductionHepatitis B and HIV infections are endemic in sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana. Understanding the extent of the co-infection is critical to the optimal care of persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV). We determined the prevalence and risk factors of HBV co-infection in PLHIV and assessed the knowledge of health care workers (HCW) in Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) clinics regarding the co-infection.MethodsA cross sectional study was conducted in five ART clinics to obtain data from a systematic random sample of PLHIV in the Eastern region of Ghana from March to June 2012. We used self-administered questionnaires to assess knowledge of HCW on knowledge and management of the co-infection. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression models were used for analysis at 5% significance level.ResultsOf 320 PLHIV recruited into study, with median age of 40 years (IQR: 33-50 years), 28 tested positive for HBsAg giving an overall prevalence of 8.8%. There were significant associations between HBV infection and being an adult (p=0.004), increasing serum ALT levels (p=0.002) and partner with history of HBV infection (p=0.010). HCW obtained 84.2% (SD± 20.53; 95% CI: 89-98.1) and 53.1% (SD± 35.06; 95% CI: 13.0-88.9) in the “general knowledge” and “management practice” indexes respectively.ConclusionPrevalence of HBV-HIV co-infection was relatively high among PLHIV in Eastern region. Knowledge of HCW on management practices of HBV-HIV co-infection and HBV vaccination coverage among PLHIV were found to be relatively low. Regular trainings of HCW and a HBV vaccination programme targeted at PLHIV should be considered.
Highlights
HBV and HIV have similar routes of transmission, co-infections are common which poses increased risk for life threatening complications for people living with both infections [1,2,3]
In countries where highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has been available for some time such as South Africa and Botswana [5,6,7], liver diseases associated with HBV, have emerged as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV) [8,9]
Twenty eight PLHIV tested positive for HBV, giving an overall HBV-HIV co-infection seroprevalence of 8.8% [95% C.I: 6%-12.5%]
Summary
HBV and HIV have similar routes of transmission, co-infections are common which poses increased risk for life threatening complications for people living with both infections [1,2,3]. The WHO in 2012 reported that more than 2 billion people have been infected with HBV at some time in their lives [10]. In 2010, the number of people globally living with HIV and AIDS was 34 million with 2.7 million new infections and 1.8 million AIDS-related deaths in that year alone [11]. Sub-Saharan Africa has only 12% of the global population, yet about 68% (approximately 22.5 million) of all people living with HIV reside in this region, as well as an estimated 50 million chronic HBV carriers [11]
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