Clinical and virological characteristics of hepatitis B or C virus co‐infection with HIV in Indonesian patients

Hepatitis virus‐related liver disease increases substantially the mortality rate of patients with HIV on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Therefore, early diagnosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) is important. However, the prevalence of HBV and HCV infection in Indonesian patients infected with HIV is unknown. Therefore, this study examined the molecular and clinical characteristics of HBV and HCV in 126 patients infected with HIV, mostly on HAART, at Dr. Sardjito Hospital, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The rates of triple infection, HIV/HCV co‐infection, HIV/HBV co‐infection, and mono‐infection were 4.8%, 34.1%, 3.2%, and 57.9%, respectively. Seven HCV genotypes were detected, with genotypes 1a, 1b, 1c, 3a, 3k, 4a, and 6n found in 23 (52%), 1 (2%), 4 (9%), 5 (11%), 7 (16%), 3 (6%), and 1 (2%) patients, respectively, indicating multiple modes of transmission. HBV‐DNA was detected in 2/10 patients with hepatitis B surface antigen; both patients were HAART naive. Univariate analysis revealed that male sex, higher education level, injection drug use, sexual contact, alanine aminotransferase ≥40 IU/L, and aspartate aminotransferase‐to‐platelet ratio index > 0.5 were associated with HCV co‐infection. In multivariate analysis, injection drug use (OR: 26.52; 95% CI: 3.52–199.54) and alanine aminotransferase ≥40 IU/L (OR: 6.36; 95% CI: 1.23–32.89) were independently associated with HCV co‐infection. HCV co‐infection was common among Indonesian patients infected with HIV, particularly among injecting drug users, and was a risk factor for disease progression of HIV. J. Med. Virol. 84:857–865, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.