Abstract:
Human immunodeficiency virus and Hepatitis B and C viruses are the three most
common chronic viral infections documented world-wide with similar transmission mechanism.
When these disease becomes Co-morbidity with Human immunodeficiency virus they were lead
to severe form of disease and lead to rapid mortality, as well as it increases the underlying
consequences such as the hematological problems, liver failure, associated with these viruses
which have been shown to decrease the life expectancy in the HIV-infected patients. The
objective of this study was to determine prevalence of HBV & HCV infection among HIV infected
patients attending university of Gondar specialized Referral Hospital; Northwest Ethiopia, from
January to April, 2020. Hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted at University of
Gondar Specialized Referral Hospital. The study participants were 81 HIV positive patients who
were selected by a non- randomized purposive sampling technique, and blood specimens from
study participants. Then, the blood sample was analyzed with viral load PCR machine and rapid
test kits. The quality of sample and data was maintained by strictly following Standard operating
procedure and using control samples daily before the samples were run. Data was entered into
EPI-Info version-7 to check data completeness and data clearance then transferred to SPSS
version-20 for analysis of bivariate and multivariate logistic regression and P-value less than
0.05 positive individuals were 13.5% and 8.6%, respectively. Overall, the prevalence of
HBV/HIV is considerably higher than HCV/HIV. The prevalence of co infection with HBV in
HIV-infected patients in the study area is high. The prevalence of HIV-HBV co-infection was
higher in males than females; in the age groups of <35 and 35-44 years; among rural dwellers
than urban. The highest HBV and HCV magnitude is observed in individuals whose HIV viral
load count is greater than 1000 copies/ml. HIV viral load is significantly associated with HBV
and HCV.HCV/HIV co infection is more closely associated with smoking and condom usage,
while HBV/ HIV confection is more closely associated with condom usage. In general, the role of
risk factors was higher among HIV patients co-infected with HCV compared to HBV co-infected
ones
