Survey on Hepatitis B virus and Hepatitis C Virus Coinfection in the Human Immunodeficiency Virus-infected Patients

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a blood-borne viral disease, weakens the immune system and causes opportunistic infections or cancers, which can eventually lead to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Generally antiretroviral therapy (ART) in HIV infected patients reduces morbidity and mortality, but also increases the risk of liver disease in patients coinfected with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) or Hepatitis C virus (HCV), previously known as the leading cause of death from HIV infection. In this study, HIV positive-sera were investigated seroprevalence of HBV and HCV which were requested for HIV test from 2020 to 2021. Of the total 232 samples, there are 184 cases (79.1%) in hospital, 33 cases (14.2%) in public health center, 6 cases (2.6%) in correctional institution and 2 cases (0.9%) in the military manpower administration. Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) was detected in 13 cases (5.6%) and hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV) in 16 cases (6.9%) and also both in 4 cases (1.7%) of 232 samples. The results of HBsAg and hepatitis B virus core antibody (anti-HBc) for 107 samples were anti-HBc positive in 36 cases (35.6%) and HBsAg positive in 4 cases (1.7%). The results confirmed that coinfection with HBV and HCV was more common in HIV infected people than in the general population in Korea. These findings from this study were provided as fundamental data for HIV infection prevention and ART therapy selection.