Prevalence of Hepatitis B co-infection amongst HIV infected children attending a care and treatment centre in Owerri, South-eastern Nigeria
BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B infection impacts negatively on disease progression in HIV infected children thereby increasing morbidity and mortality. In spite of the foregoing, data on Hepatitis B co-infection in children living with HIV in South Eastern Nigeria is scarce. This study set out to determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B Co- infection in HIV infected children attending the Paediatric HIV Care and Treatment clinic of the Federal Medical Centre Owerri. METHODS: Study period was between February and July 2010. Testing for Hepatitis B infection was done using the ACON Hepatitis B surface antigen Rapid test strip. (Acon Laboratories Inc. San Diego.CA) on HIV infected children attending the Paediatric HIV Care and Treatment clinic of the Federal Medical Centre Owerri. RESULTS: A total of 139 HIV infected children were enrolled during the study period. The overall prevalence of Hepatitis B Co- infection was 5.8% (8/139). The prevalence in males was 8.2% (5/61) while in females it was 3.8% (3/78). The prevalence of Hepatitis B Co- infection amongst patients on antiretroviral therapy was 4.6%. They accounted for 62.5% of Hepatitis B Co- infection in our study. Previous blood transfusion, gender and age did not show significant relationship with Hepatitis B Co-infection. CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of Hepatitis B Co- infection in our study poses an intense treatment challenge because suggested drug combinations in patients with HIV and Hepatitis B infections are not commonly available in resource challenged centres like ours. It would appear then that our best option would be to prevent Hepatitis B infection in both HIV infected and un-infected children. This can be achieved by strengthening the uptake of Hepatitis B vaccine which is already incorporated in the National Programme on Immunization (NPI) in Nigeria.