Plasmodium Falciparum and Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Nigerian Urban Population

Dear Editor,
Infection due to Plasmodium falciparum is a serious public health threat in sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria endemic foci are often times affected by other infectious agents which may contribute to the clinical episodes of the disease. 1Hepatitis B virus is one of such infectious agents that coexist
with P. falciparum in most endemic areas. Although the accurate infection status due to hepatitis B virus infection is not yet known, an estimated 350 million persons worldwide are chronic carriers. 2,3
Since both infectious agents make use of host liver cells for intracellular multiplication, parasites
induced direct or immunologically mediated interactions in concurrent infections could potentially escalate or inhibit progression of both infections. 4 While there are several epidemiological
studies on malaria parasites and hepatitis B virus single infection in Nigeria and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, very few focused on concomitant occurrence of these two pathogens. There is a need to gather more epidemiological data on their concurrent existence to determine the possible associations between these infectious agents.