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Researchers at Johns Hopkins
University (JHU) prospectively followed 5,310 men who have sex with men (MSM)
enrolled in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study. The participants were men with
HIV infection and men at risk for HIV. All the participants tested negative for
hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody within two years of enrollment and at
follow-up visits through September 30, 2011.
The researchers followed the group
for a median of 7.1 years for a total of 55,343 years of follow-up. During
follow-up, researchers documented 115 incidences of HCV infection, with an
incidence rate of 2.08 per 1,000 person-years. HIV-positive men had a 4.22 HCV
infection rate, approximately 8.5 times higher than the 0.5 rate for men who
did not have HIV.
Factors associated with increased
HCV risk were older age, HIV infection, being positive for hepatitis B, history
of injection drug use, having more than 13 drinks a week, syphilis, and
unprotected receptive anal sex with multiple partners in the previous six
months. Among HIV-positive MSM, HCV risk decreased as CD4 cell counts
increased.
Chloe Thio, MD, associate professor
of medicine at JHU, noted that the data emphasized the importance of screening
MSM for HCV regardless of whether they were sexually active as they might have
been infected many years ago. Also, she suggested patients should be counseled
about the increased risk to receptive partners.
The full report, “Incident Hepatitis
C Virus Infection in Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Prospective Cohort Analysis,
1984–2011,” was published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, (2013;
57 (1): 77–84).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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