Hepatitis B and C coinfection with human immunodeficiency virus in a tertiary centre in Jos, North Central, Nigeria

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: A 5-year retrospective review (from January 1st, 2009 to December 31st; 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. All data were collated and analysed with SPSS version 22.Results: A total of 2,224 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 carried out among HIV positive clients routinely to enhance early treatment and better quality of care.Keywords: Co-infection, Prevalence, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV