Received date: 18/03/2023 Published date: 16/05/2023 Chineze Helen Ugwu¹, Edith Nnenna Oketah², Phillip Oritsegbubemi Okerentugba², NnennaFrank-Peterside², Iheanyi Omezuruike Okonko²* ¹Department of Applied Microbiology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nige- ria. ²Virus & Genomics Research Unit, Department of Microbiology, University of Port Harcourt, Choba, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, 500102 Nigeria. Co-infection of Hepatitis B among HIV-infected patients: A cross-sectional study from A University Teaching hospital in Anambra State, Nigeria *Corresponding author *Iheanyi O Okonko, Virus & Genom- ics Research Unit, Department of Microbiology, University of Port Har- court, Choba, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, 500102 Nigeria. 1 Journal of Clinical Case Reports, Medical Images and Health Sciences Research article Volume 4 Issue 3, 2023 Artcle Informaton Citation: *Ugwu CH, Oketah EN, Okerentugba PO, Frank-Peterside & Okonko IO. Co-infection of Hepatitis B among HIV-infected patients: A cross-sectional study from A University Teaching hospitalin Anambra State, Nigeria. Jour of Clin Cas Rep, Med Imag and Heal Sci 4(3)-2023. DOI: 10.55920/JCRMHS.2023.04.001163 Abstract Hepatts B and HIV infectons are signifcant public health problems in sub- Saharan Africa, and research suggests that co-infected individuals with either HBV or HIV experience a higher rate of HIV progression. This study aimed at investgatng possible HBV coinfecton in relaton to the sociodemographic traits of HIV-infected individuals, atending the HIV clinic at a University Teaching Hospital in Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria. Two hundred and ffy-fve (255) HIV- infected individuals gave consent to partcipate in the study. Blood samples (about 5ml) were aseptcally collected and tested for HBV using Monolisa HBsAg ULTRA kit. CD4 counts were measured using the Partec CyFlow. Plasma viral loads (PVL) were also determined using the Abbot Real-Time HIV-1 Assay US protocol. The results showed that the majority (72.5%) of the study partcipants had a CD4 cell count of 350 cells/ul. The virological assay revealed that the viral RNA was not detected (TND) in most (63.5%) of the patents. About 45 (17.7%) HIV-infected individuals were found to be coinfected with HBV out of which the majority were of the female gender (18.7%). HIV-positve individuals within the age group 31-40(18.9%) were mostly afected. Results from this study showed a high HBsAg seroprevalence rate among the HIV infected individuals atending the HIV clinic in this tertary hospital in Anambra State, Nigeria. The results obtained from the study also reveal that there are no signifcant associatons found between the socio-demographic characteristcs of the patents and HBV. Keywords: HBV, HIV, Coinfecton, Nigeria. INTRODUCTION Hepatts B and HIV infectons are signifcant public health problems in sub-Saharan Africa, and research suggests that co-infected individuals with either HBV or HIV experience a higher rate of HIV progression. A signifcant public health issue that stll afects 36.7 (30.8-42.9) million people worldwide is HIV-1 (Nazziwa et al., 2020). According to WHO estmates, 37.7 million people globally had HIV as of 2020, with the majority residing in LMICs (low-and middle- income countries) (WHO, 2021). A disproportonate amount of the burden of the global HIV epidemic falls on Sub-Saharan Africa, which in 2017 saw 65% of new infectons, 75% of HIV-related fatalites, and 71% of people living with the virus (Dwyer-Lindgren et al., 2019). Nigeria is home to nine percent (9%) of the world's HIV-positve people (Awofala & Ogundele 2018). On the other hand, HBV which is one of the principal causes of recurrent liver disorders and chronic liver infectons is a serious public health issue worldwide, infectng about a third of the world's populaton, resultng in 360 million chronic