He also contributed substantially to the final version of the manuscript. part of the routine workup to assess their disease health status and need for antiretroviral therapy. Statistical significance was taken as p 0.05. Results A total of 273 patients comprising 79 (28.9%) males and 194 (71.1%) females were included in the study (F:M = 2.46: 1). The mean age of the study population was 36.21 10.20 years with mean age of males (39.52 9.95years) significantly higher than females (34.88 10.02; p=0.001). The overall prevalence of HBsAg in the study population was 6.6% with a sex specific prevalence of 8.1% and Chlorantraniliprole 6% for males and females, respectively. No statistically significance difference in the mean serum alanine transaminase, serum aspartate transaminase, hemoglobin and CD4+ T- Lymphocytes cell count of those who had HBsAg negative status compared to those who had HBsAg positive status. Two (0.7%) of the patients had positive serum anti HCV antibodies. The CD4+ T- Lymphocytes cell count ranged between 5 C 1050 cells/l with a mean of 286.19 233.31 cells/l. The majority of patients (71.8%) had a CD4+ T- Lymphocytes cell count 350 cells/l. Conclusion At the time of presentation, majority of our patients had a CD4+ T- Lymphocytes cell count less than 350 cells/l consistent with significant immune-suppression. More sustained and vigorous awareness campaigns still need to Chlorantraniliprole be done in Ekiti State to diagnose this disease early. There is also a need to Rabbit Polyclonal to SLC39A7 accelerate the integration of hepatitis B virus screening and treatment programme into HIV/AIDS programme because of the morbidity and mortality implication of HBV and HIV co-infection. strong class=”kwd-title” Keywords: HIV AIDS infection, CD4+ T-lymphocyte cell counts, Hepatitis B virus infection Background HIV infection is a global pandemic. By the end of 2007 it was estimated that about 33.2 million people were living with HIV in the world with more than 60% of the infected population in sub-Saharan Africa [1]. In Nigeria, the prevalence of HIV among adults during the year 2007 was 3.1% [2]. In that year 2007, 170,000 deaths of the estimated 2.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS were reported. In response to the global efforts at improving care and treatment, the Nigeria Government in collaboration with various partners run HIV care and treatment that included the provision of free antiretroviral drugs and drugs for opportunistic infections. Despite the enormous attention being paid to early diagnosis and treatment of HIV/AIDS worldwide, reports still showed that most patients Chlorantraniliprole still present late for care [3C5]. The impact of this on morbidity and mortality vis–vis the reduced immunologic status at presentation had also been documented [6, 7]. In addition, the common routes of infection shared by HIV, HBV and HCV [8] have generated interests in co-infection between HIV, HBV and/or HCV. As a matter of facts, about 5% to 10% of HIV patients harbor persistent serum HBsAg and therefore suffer from chronic hepatitis B [9]. Progression to end-stage liver disease occurs more quickly in HIV/HBV-coinfected patients; this is characteristic in the absence of significant elevations in liver enzymes, as inflammatory phenomena in the liver are ameliorated in HIV infection although paradoxically fibrogenesis is enhanced. Liver disease is currently one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in HIV C infected individuals with chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C being the major causes of hepatic disease in this population [10]. Though, screening for hepatitis B and C viruses in HIV-infected individuals is becoming widespread, integration of the treatment of these viral hepatitides has not been achieved in most countries, including Nigeria. The objectives of this study were to: (1) determine the baseline CD4+ T Lymphocytes cell count and haemoglobin level in antiretroviral na?ve HIV patients; (2) determine the prevalence rates at baseline of Chlorantraniliprole HBsAg and anti- hepatitis C antibody (HCV-ab) sero-positive status in this population of HIV patients who presented at the ART Clinic of a recently upgraded centre for HIV/AIDS referral, diagnosis and treatment in Ekiti State, southwestern Nigeria (where HIV prevalence at 1% is the lowest in Nigeria). Methods This study was carried out at the Chlorantraniliprole medical department of the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria, in the period January 2009-March 2010 (15 months period). This centre is one of the three recently upgraded centres in Ekiti State, Southwestern Nigeria to provide care and treatment including provision of free antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS referral, diagnosis and treatment. Usually, in our Centre, HIV Testing and Counseling (HCT) is routine.