Prevalence of Hepatitis B Surface Antigen among HIV Positive Clients Attending S;pecial Treatment Centre in Dalhatu Arat Specialist Hospital Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Viral Hepatitis is a systematic infection involving the liver, therefore, hepatitis is an inflammation, or swelling of the liver caused by a number of etiological agents such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites and chemicals like alcohol, drugs, poison. Hepatitis B is a serious and common infectious disease of the liver caused by hepatitis B virus. More than 350 million people in the world today are estimated to be persistently infected with hepatitis B virus. A large fraction of these are in Eastern Asia and Africa, where the associated complication of chronic liver disease and liver cancer are the most common health problems. There is need for quick identification of co-infected patients so they could be managed in a manner that progression in liver damage could be slowed down as much as possible. This will help improve the quality of care given to HIV patients on Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART). Exactly 2ml of whole blood sample was collected from 500 HIV positive clients attending STC at Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital Lafia. On the spot testing for HBSAg was conducted using commercially prepared Hepatitis B surface antigen test strips. Out of the 500 clients tested, 11.8% were co-infected. Females had the highest co-infection rate of 62.7%, clients within the age range of 25-29 and illiterates also had the highest co-infection rate of 30.5% and 55.9% respectively. Screening of all HIV clients for HBsAg should be encouraged by the hospitals to enable prompt detection of HBsAg/HIV co-infection and adequate management.