Ranjbar et al. injection and unprotected sex between adults. In this to 5.0% in Sistan and Baluchestan Province.7,11 A re- Table 1: HIV and AIDS prevalence in various regions, a comparison between years 2001 and 2008.19 Year Adults and chil- Adults and chil- Adult prev- Adult and child dren living with dren newly in- alence (%) deaths due to HIV fected with HIV AIDS High preva- Sub- 2008 22.4 million 1.9 million 5.2 1.4 lence (8-15%) Saharan (20.8-24.01 million) (1.6-2.2 million) (4.9-5.4) (1.1-1.7) Africa 2001 19.7 million 2.3 million 5.8 1.4 (18.3-21.2 million) (2.0-2.5 million) (5.5-6.0) (1.2-1.7) South and 2008 3.8 million 280000 0.3 270000 South-East (3.4-4.3 million) (240000-320000) (0.2-0.3) (220000-310000) Asia 2001 4.0 million 310000 0.3 260000 (3.5-4.5 million) (270000-350000) (<0.3-0.4) (210000-320000) Intermediate Middle 2008 310000 35000 0.2 20000 prevalence East and (250000-380000) (24000-46000) (<0.02-0.3) (15000-25000) (2-7%) North Afri- 2001 200000 30000 0.2 11000 ca (150000-250000) (24000-46000) (0.1-0.2) (7800-14000) Latin 2008 2.0 million 170000 0.6 77000 America (1.8-2.2 million) (150000-200000) (0.5-0.6) (66000-89000) 2001 1.6 million 150000 0.5 66000 (1.5-1.8 million) (140000-170000) (<0.5-0.6) (56000-77000) Low preva- Western 2008 850000 30000 0.3 13000 lence (<2%) and Cen- (710000-970000) (23000-35000) (0.2-0.3) (10000-15000) tral Europe 2001 660000 40000 0.2 7900 (580000-760000) (31000-47000) (<0.2-0.3) (6500-9700) North 2008 1.4 million 55000 0.6 25000 America (1.2-1.6 million) (36000-61000) (0.5-0.7) (20000-31000) 2001 1.2 million 52000 0.6 19000 (1.1-1.4 million) (42000-60000) (0.5-0.7) (16000-23000) case, there is a co-infection rate of 5-10% which is 10 times higher than general population. Average prevalence of 2-7% HBsAg- has been reported in Ja- pan, Middle East, Central America, and Latin Ameri- ca. Finally, high HBV endemicity of 8-15% HBsAg exists in Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia, and China. Perinatal transmission, close contact with households, and medical or cultural procedures (scari- fication and tattoos in Africa) are the most common ways of viral spread in second group in which 10- 20% corresponds for the co-infection.8,9 Moreover in Iran, the prevalence of HBsAg has differed through the time and after mass vaccination in following years, the number of HBsAg positive individuals started to decrease. Recent studies have shown a remarkable decline where the prevalence rate of HBV was 2.14% or generally 1.5 million people all over the country.10 Hajiani et al. as well as Nokhodian et al. have provided epidemiological data which shows different prevalence ratios in various areas of Iran fluctuating from 1.7% in Fars Province cent study by Seyed Alinaghi in 2010 illustrates that 3% of general population were infected with HBV before the year 1993; it reduced to 1.5-2% in current years, though, mostly because of the medical cares performed by health providers in Iran.12 Around 40 million people are worldwide infected with HIV.13 After introduction of highly active antiretroviral ther- apy (HAART) has led to a decline in death rate from AIDS-related causes and liver disease still appears to be one of the primary causes of morbidity and mortal- ity, though.14,15 mostly the parts of the world with a high rate of one infection overlap with high preva- lence of the other one, that is, infection with one of the viruses is mostly followed by the other one. In case of HBV/HIV co-infection, biological signs of prior HBV infection have been seen in 90% of HIV- infected individuals (defined by the presence of se- rum anti-HBc Ab) and 5–15% showed chronic infec- tion (defined by the presence of serum HBsAg) all around the world.16 HBV incidence fluctuated mark- edly among different HIV-infected populations, but 856 WWW.ircmj.com Vol 13 December 2011