Prevalence of hepatitis B and D viruses in HIV-infected persons in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of hepatitis B and D viruses among HIV-infected residents of South Vietnam.Materials and methods. The study material was represented by 316 blood serum samples collected from HIV-infected residents of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam taking antiretroviral therapy. The subjects were examined for the presence of HBV markers with a qualitative detection of HBsAg, HBs IgG, HBcore IgG, anti-HDV, DNA HBV, and RNA HDV. HBV and HDV complete genomes nucleotide sequences were obtained for 23 samples from HIV+HBV+HDV co-infected patients. Amplification and subsequent sequencing of HBV and HDV were performed using nested PCR with pair’s overlapping primers jointly flanking the complete HBV and HDV genomes, respectively.Results. Serological markers of HBV and HDV were presented in the following ratios: HBsAg — 9.17%, anti-HBs Ig G — 10.44%, anti-HBcore Ig G — 42.08%, total anti-HDV — 9.81%. HBV DNA was detected in 32.58% of cases, including 23.41% of HBsAg-negative individuals. HDV RNA was detected in 24.13% of HBsAg-positive individuals and 21.62% of HBsAg-negative, which amounted to 22.33% of HBV-positive individuals and 7.27% of the total group, respectively. In phylogenetic analysis, HBV subgenotype B4 (60.89%) prevailed among HIV-infected patients compared to C1 (21.73%), B2 (8.7%), C2 (4.34%) and C5 (4.34%). Phylogenetic analysis of HDV nucleotide sequences showed the prevalence of HDV genotype 1 (78.26%) compared to genotype 2 (21.74%). The hepatitis Delta virus prevalence in patients with HIV+HBV coinfection, and the prevalence of seronegative HDV in patients with OBI indicate the need to use PCR in hepatitis highly endemic regions for hepatitis B and hepatitis D screening of the general population and especially those at-risk groups.