Abstract:
Background: Human immunodeficiency virus HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C co-infection have become a global health challenge.
The situation is made worse by the fact that they share the same route of transmission and co-infection increase's progression,
complications and outcome illness. Prompt recognition of the co-infections leads to a well-timed early treatment with better outcome.
Lack of funding prevented Hepatitis B and C routine screening among HIV positive clients at the inception of the HIV/AIDS
programme in our facility. Our aim was to discover the baseline data in our local populace to enable us understand the magnitude of
the problem in our facility and Jos metropolis in particular.
Materials and Methods: A5-year retrospective review (from January 1", 2009 to December 31"; 2013) was carried out. Subjects who
previously tested positive to HIV and were on highly active anti-retroviral therapy in Bingham University Teaching Hospital
(BHUTH), Jos were recruited into the study. The subjects' were then tested for Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and the anti -
HCV antibody.Alldatawerecollatedandanalysed with SPSS version 22.
Results: A total of2,224 subjects were tested for hepatitis B and C viral presence. Females were 1,527 (68.7%) while 697 (31.7%)
were males, giving a male: female ration of 1:2.2.
Out of the 2,224 screened, 297 were HBV positive, 95 had HCV infection while 7 of the subjects had both HBV and HCV coexisting
with HIV. The prevalence of HbsAg was 13.4% while the prevalence of HCV was 4.3% whereas only 0.31% the three infections
coexisting.
Conclusion: Co-infection of HIV with Hepatitis B and or C infection in our environment is significant, making it imperative that
HBV and HCV screening be earned out among HIV positive clients routinely to enhance early treatment and better quality of care
