Haematological and Immunological Parameters in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Infection in Zaria, Nigeria

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the haematological and immunological parameters in patients with chronic HBV infection in Zaria, Nigeria. Twenty individuals with confirmed chronic HBV (CHB) infection constituted the subjects while 20 non-HBV-infected individuals were monitored as controls. The subjects were enrolled purposively from the Gastroenterology Clinic of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Shika, Zaria Nigeria. Four millilitres of blood samples were collected from each study participants. Full blood count was conducted using the Swelab Alfa Haematology Analyzer, while CD4⁺ T-Cell enumeration was performed using the Sysmex Partec CyFlow® Counter IVD flow cytometer according to the manufacturers' instruction. The mean (and standard deviation) age of the 20 participants with CHB was 32.7 (±10.1) years while that of the 20 HBV negative control participants was 30.0 (±7.8) years. Mann-Whitney test showed no significant difference between the two groups in their total WBC (p=0.6634) and granulocytes (p=0.2386). There was a significant increase in the monocytes count (p=0.0151) and a significant decrease in the lymphocytes count (p=0.0006) of patients with CHB compared to the healthy control. There was no significant difference in the mean CD4+ T-lymphocytes count between subjects and controls (p=0.0633). Unpaired Student t-test showed no significant difference between the two groups in the other haematological parameters. This study showed a significant increase in monocytes and decrease in lymphocytes, a phenomenon that characterize the sustenance of infection by immune evasion mechanism.