Genotypic characterization of hepatitis B virus among human immunodeficiency virus patients at a tertiary health care facility in North Central Nigeria

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains a major global health problem, with approximately 257 million people chronically infected. HBV co-infection with human immunodeficiency (HIV) virus is a major public health problem especially in developing countries. In this study, the genotypes of HBV were determined among 400 consenting HIV patients accessing healthcare in Federal Medical Center, Keffi, Nigeria by Nested Multiplex PCR method. Blood samples were collected and screened for HBsAg using ACON kit (ACON Laboratories Inc, USA). HBV DNA from 18 positive samples were genotyped. Of these, 5.6% were of genotype B, 22.2% were of genotype F and 72.2% were not-typeable. This study reported the circulation of genotypes B and F in the study population with predominance of not-typable strains. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of genotype F in a Nigerian study.