Abstract:

Background: Individuals with HIV infection are prone to acquiring opportunistic infections when the immune system is weakened and this tends to increase the morbidity and mortality of HIV infected individuals. At this stage, the HIV infected individual is said to progress to AIDS. Viral infections are the major cause of opportunistic infections and a number of viruses were identified as such. This study aimed to determine if hepatitis D virus occurs as an opportunistic infection among HIV/HBV co-infected study participants at baseline.

Materials and Methods: The study was cross-sectional and comprises of adult treatment-naïve HIV/HBV co-infected study participants. The study participants were screened for HDV infection. Prevalence of HDV infection was compared among HIV/HBV co-infected study participants with and without AIDS at baseline. SPSS Version 20 was used for data analysis. Fisher’s exert test and Yate’s chi-squared test were used for statistical tests and P-value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant value.

Results: The prevalence of HDV infection was not statistically significant among HIV/HBV co-infected study participants who had AIDS at baseline based on symptoms of opportunistic infections or severe immunosuppression or symptoms of opportunistic infections coupled with severe immunosuppression (P= 0.077; 1.000; 0.155 respectively).

Conclusion: Hepatitis D virus infection among HIV/HBV co-infected study participants is not associated with HIV related opportunistic infections, it occurs as a primary pathogen.

Keywords: AIDS, HDV infection, HIV/HBV co-infection.

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