Prevalence and impact of hepatitis B and C virus co-infections in antiretroviral treatment naïve patients with HIV infection at a major treatment center in Ghana

✍ Scribed by Kwamena William Coleman Sagoe; Afrakoma Adjoa Agyei; Francesca Ziga; Margaret Lartey; Theophilus K. Adiku; Makafui Seshi; Max Q. Arens; Julius Abraham Addo Mingle

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 79 KB
• Volume: 84
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.22262

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Data on the effects of the presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) in patients co‐infected with these viruses and HIV in West Africa are conflicting and little information is available in Ghana. A cohort of 138 treatment naïve individuals infected with HIV was screened for HBV and HCV serologic markers; HBsAg positive patients were tested for HBeAg, anti‐HBe, and anti‐HBc IgM. The viral load of HIV‐1 in the plasma was determined in 81 patients. Eighteen of the 138 patients (13%) and 5 (3.6%) had HBsAg and anti‐HCV, respectively. None of the patients had anti‐HBc IgM, but 10 (55.6%) and 8 (44.4%) of the 18 patients who were HBsAg positive had HBeAg and anti‐HBe, respectively. In patients with measurement of CD4^+^ undertaken within 1 month (n = 83), CD4^+^ count was significantly lower in patients with HBeAg (median [IQR], 81 [22–144]) as compared to those with anti‐HBe (median [IQR], 210 [197–222]) (P = 0.002, CI: −96.46 to 51.21). However, those with HIV mono‐infection had similar CD4^+^ counts (median [IQR], 57 [14–159]) compared to those with HBeAg (P = 1.0, CI: −71.75 to 73.66). Similar results were obtained if CD4^+^ count was measured within 2 months prior to initiation of HAART (n = 119). Generally, HBV and anti‐HCV did not affect CD4^+^ and viral loads of HIV‐1 in plasma but patients with HIV and HBV co‐infection who had HBeAg had more severe immune suppression as compared to those with anti‐HBe. This may have implication for initiating HAART in HBV endemic areas. J. Med. Virol. 84:6–10, 2011. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.