Serological markers and risk factors for hepatitis B and C viruses in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus

Abstract

SUMMARYBoth hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses (HBV and HCV) infection are common in HIV-infected individuals as a result of shared risk factors for acquisition. A serological study for HBV and HCV was performed in 251 HIV-positive individuals from Medellín, Colombia. A qualitative RT-PCR for HCV was done in 90 patients with CD4+ T-cell count ≤ 150 per mm 3 . Serological markers for HBV infection were present in 97 (38.6%) patients. Thirty six of them (37.1%) had isolated anti-HBc. A multivariate analysis indicated that the following risk factors were significantly associated with the presence of these markers: age (OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01-1.08), pediculosis pubis (OR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.01-3.33), men who have sex with men and women (OR = 3.23, 95% CI: 1.46-7.13) and men who have sex only with men (OR = 3.73, 95% CI: 1.58-8.78). The same analysis restricted to women showed syphilis as the only significant risk factor. Thus, HBV infection was considerably associated with high risk sexual behavior. HCV was present in only two (0.8%) of HIV patients. Both of them were positive by RT-PCR and anti-HCV. This low frequency of HIV/HCV coinfection was probably due to the uncommon intravenous drug abuse in this population. The frequent finding of isolated anti-HBc warrants molecular approaches to rule out the presence of cryptic HBV infection.

Epidemiology, Risk Factors and Genotypes of HBV in HIV-Infected Patients in the Northeast Region of Colombia: High Prevalence of Occult Hepatitis B and F3 Subgenotype Dominance

“…Our data showed an overall prevalence (past and current HBV infection) of 28.7%; an estimate that is lower than those of other Latin American countries such as Chile (46.3%), Cuba (45.5%) and Brazil (30–55.1%) [31] – [35] . A previous population-based study conducted in Medellin (Colombia) yielded an HIV-HBV coinfection rate of 38.6% [36] and an active HBV infection rate of 2.1%, which is similar to the 3% prevalence identified by our study in Bucaramanga. Remarkably, the endemicity of HBV mono-infection in the two Colombian cities has been classified as low [19] .…”

A Cross Section Study to Determine the Prevalence of Antibodies against HIV Infection among Hepatitis B and C Infected Individuals

“…Worldwide, there are 240 million people chronically infected with HBV, 130–150 million chronic HCV cases and 35 million people living with HIV/AIDS [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Most studies have evaluated HBV and HCV prevalence among HIV-infected individuals, where a low prevalence of HBV and HCV markers has been found in Brazil (1% for HBsAg and 1.6% for HCV) [ 17 ], Colombia (2.1% for HBsAg and 0.8% for HCV), Nigeria (7.9% for HBsAg and 2.3% for HCV) and India (2.6% for HBsAg and 1.7% for HCV) [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. On the other hand, a high prevalence of HBV and HCV was found in African countries such as Tanzania (17.3% for HBsAg and 18.1% for HCV), Gambia (12.2% for HBsAg) and Cote D’Ivoire (13.4% for HBsAg) [ 20 , 21 , 22 ].…”

“…Studies to determine the risk factors for HBV and HCV infection among HIV-infected individuals are common [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], but few studies have been conducted to determine the HIV prevalence and related risk factors among the HBV- or HCV-infected population, particularly in Latin America [ 23 ]. This study aims to investigate the seroprevalence of HIV infection in hepatitis B- and C-infected individuals referred to the Viral Hepatitis Ambulatory of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as well as risk factors associated with these infections.…”

Seroprevalance of Hepatitis B Virus and Hepatitis C Virus Infections in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Patients

“…HCV seroprevalansının düşük olması olguların arasında damar içi uyuşturucu kullananların azlığına bağlanmıştır. HBV ile temas etmiş olanların %37.1'inde izole anti-HBc pozitifl iği saptanmıştır (22). Senegal'de yapılan bir seroprevalans çalışmasında da izole anti-HBc pozitifl iğinin HIV olgularında yüksek oranda görüldüğü bildirilmiş ve okült HBV infeksiyonu tanısı için daha fazla çalışma yapılması gerekliliği belirtilmiştir (23).…”