Prevalence and molecular characterization of Hepatitis B in HIV infected individuals in Botswana

Introduction Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a major coinfection in HIV infected patients and it has emerged as an important cause of morbidity and mortality in this group since the start of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART). HIV/HBV coinfection prevalence varies by geographic region even within the same country. In Botswana the coinfection prevalence data is very sparse and what is reported varies. Ten HBV genotypes with some subgenotypes have been described differing by geographic distribution, course of disease, response to treatment and development of mutations. Even though data have shown that genotypes are predictive of disease outcome, the circulating HBV genotypes in Botswana remains unknown. Therefore this study aims at determining the HIV\HBV coinfection prevalence rate and the circulating HBV genotypes in Botswana.