High prevalence of HCV-RNA in the saliva cell fraction of patients with chronic hepatitis C but no Evidence of HCV transmission among sexual partners

Fabris, Paolo; Infantolino, D.; Biasin, Maria Raffaella; Marchelle, G.; Venza, E; Marin, V. Terribile Wiel; Benedetti, Paolo; Tositti, Giulia; Manfrin, Vinicio; Lalla, Fausto de

doi:10.1007/bf02560503

Cited by 34 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Another question concerning the sexual transmission of HCV is the presence of the virus in secretions, saliva 20,21 , semen 8,59 and menstrual blood 78 . Some studies raise the issue and discuss the most probable pathway of infection, and whether it is from men to women or from women to men.…”

Section: Souto Et Al (1994)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual transmission of hepatitis C

Cavalheiro

2007

Rev. Inst. Med. trop. S. Paulo

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SUMMARYIt is generally agreed that the hepatitis C virus (HCV) can be efficiently transmitted parenterally, although data on viral transmission by sexual or non-sexual intrafamilial contact are conflicting. Since data collection began in 1989, the first study dealt with the risk of sexual transmission among multiple sex partners. Other investigations followed, emphasizing that risk increases in specific groups such as patients co-infected with HIV and HBV, sex workers, homosexuals, illicit drug users and patients attended at sexually transmittable disease clinics.The question arises as to what might be the risk for monogamous heterosexuals in the general population, in which one of the partners has HCV?The literature provides overall rates that vary from zero to 27%; however, most studies affirm that the chances of sexual transmission are low or almost null, with rates for this mode fluctuating from zero to 3%. Intrafamilial transmission is strongly considered but inconclusive, since when mentioning transmission between sex partners within the same household, specific situations also should be considered, such as the sharing of personal hygiene items, like razorblades, toothbrushes, nail clippers and manicure pliers, which are important risk factors in HCV transmission. In this review, we discuss the hypotheses of sexual and/or intrafamilial transmission.KEYWORDS: Hepatitis C; Transmission; Sexual; Intrafamilial.Patients infected by HCV frequently question whether their infection can be transmitted to their sexual partners, and whether HCV can be transmitted through sexual relations. Common sense suggests that HCV like HBV and HIV can be transmitted through sexual contact, but what is the degree of risk? Does it depend on the population studied? Can risk behavior alter contamination potential 27,34,74 ?Classically, parenteral exposition unites many risk factors that are relevant for HCV transmission, such as the use of illegal drugs, hemodialysis, blood transfusion and blood derivatives, tattoos, organ transplants, acupuncture, sharing of straws for drug inhalation, and accidents in health-care workers 12,26,49,58,71,89 .Convincing evidence for the sexual transmission of HCV requires a history of couples having lived together in sexual activity, the absence of other opportunities for infection, and genetic evidence on the virus, demonstrating that both partners are infected by a virus with very similar genomic sequences. The possession of quality information concerning these questions can aid in providing answers to these issues. However, few studies meet these criteria satisfactorily 22,69,85 . ALTER et al. (1989) 2 presented the first study in which the possibility of HCV transmission was discussed, and considered multiple sex partners as a risk factor. However, the contribution of sexually transmitted HCV remains controversial. In the United States, the Centers for Disease control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that between 20 to 25% of the transmission indexes are associated with sexual contact, although ...

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Section: Souto Et Al (1994)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual transmission of hepatitis C

Cavalheiro

2007

Rev. Inst. Med. trop. S. Paulo

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“…The various studies that have compared viral load with the presence of HCV-RNA in the saliva have shown both positive [9,15,23,27] and negative correlations [10,28]. We did not evaluate this association.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Five out of 38 publications reported100% HCV-RNA detection in saliva samples from HCV-positive patients [16,17,25,29,38]; however, only a few cases or only patients with sialoadenitis were considered in these studies, which may represent a caveat. When reports with sample sizes larger than 30 HCV-positive patients were considered separately, the broad variability of frequencies was evident, ranging from 0 to 66% [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. This variation in HCV-RNA detection frequencies in saliva samples may be due to the saliva sampling method used.…”

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confidence: 99%

Detection of hepatitis C virus RNA in saliva samples from patients with seric anti-HCV antibodies

Gonçalves¹,

Cunha²,

Busek³

et al. 2005

Braz J Infect Dis

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We examined the frequency of HCV-RNA in saliva samples from anti-HCV positive patients. Both plasma and saliva samples from 39 HCV patients (13 with normal liver enzymes, 19 with abnormal liver enzymes and 13 with cirrhosis) were investigated. Stimulated saliva and fresh plasma were centrifuged (900 x g,10 min) and stored at -70 o C, after the addition of guanidine isothiocyanate RNA extraction buffer. HCV-RNA was detected by RT-nested-PCR (amplification of HCV-cDNA for two rounds, using HCV primers 939/209 and 940/211). HCV genotyping was carried out by RFLP (using Mva I and Hinf 1 or Hae III and Rsa I restriction enzymes). Thirty-two out of 39 (82%; 95% CI=70-94%) anti-HCV-positive patients had HCV-RNA in plasma samples. Eight out of 39 (20.5%; 95% CI=6.6-34.4%) had HCV-RNA in the saliva. The HCV genotype in saliva samples from these patients matched the genotype found for plasma HCV-RNA. No significant correlation between the presence of HCV and either age, gender, HCV genotype or any risk factor for HCV infection was found. The observed prevalence (20.5% of anti HCV positive patients or 25% of the patients with HCV-RNA in plasma) was lower than that previously reported from other countries. The low frequency of HCV-RNA in saliva samples observed in our study may be due to the use of cell-free saliva. Other authors reporting higher frequencies of HCV-RNA in saliva used whole saliva, without centrifugation.

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confidence: 99%

“…However, HCV RNA has been measured in the saliva of infected individuals independent of mucosal lesions and periodontal disease (Liou et al 1992, Fabris et al 1999, Hermida et al 2002, Lins et al 2005. Additionally, HCV could enter the saliva via peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) (Roy et al 1998, Fabris et al 1999, Maticic et al 2001; however, the presence of HCV RNA in PBMCs and saliva have not been closely correlated (Young et al 1993). The detection of HCV RNA in saliva and the existence of a correlation between the viral load in saliva and other compartments have been demonstrated in previous studies (Mariette et al 1995, Hermida et al 2002, Eirea et al 2005 In this work, a quantitative PCR assay was used to determine HCV viral load levels in the saliva and serum of patients.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%