Co-Infection of Hepatitis B and Human Papilloma Viruses in Two Nigerian States

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human papillomavirus (HPV) infections remain a major public health problem in sub-Saharan countries including Nigeria.

The study investigated the prevalence of HBV, HPV, and their co-infection in 510 outpatients of two major hospitals in both Kwara and Ondo States, Nigeria, employing the use of rapid serology assay diagnostic kit for HBV and HPV Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit.

The overall preponderance rate of both infections was observed to be 11.4%, including 6.3% hepatitis B and 5.1% HPV. The co-infection prevalence was observed to be 0.58%. Females were more infected with HBV (6.8%) and HPV (5.7%) than male counterparts with 5.3% and 4.3%, respectively. Furthermore, married-single subjects had a higher rate of co-infection (1.4%) than their married counterparts (0.56%). The rate of infection between male and female genders was not significantly different (P > 0.05). However, the prevalence of HPV was statistically higher among married-single subjects (7.2%) (P < 0.05). The HBV and co-infection prevalence rates were statistically higher among married-single subjects with 8.7% and 1.4%, respectively.

The prevalence of HBV and co-infection with HPV observed in this study indicates the public health threats posed by these infections and further establishes the need for the Nigerian Health System to strengthen domestic initiatives that are strategically geared towards eliminating hepatitis and improving access to affordable diagnostics, enabling linkage to care and treatment of infected individuals.