Incident Hepatitis C Virus in Women with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

Abstract

Individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) are frequently coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Acute HCV infection is often asymptomatic and poorly understood. We conducted a historical prospective study of HCV antibody and viremia in plasma samples obtained during 1994-1999 from a cohort of initially HIV-1-infected, HCV-uninfected women and from HIV-1-HCV-uninfected women. Twenty-two (1.5%) of 1517 experienced seroconversion. Of these, 14 (64%) truly acquired a new infection as assessed by enzyme immunoassay response and new-onset viremia. The incidence rate in HIV-1-infected women was 2.7 cases per 1000 person-years; it was 3.3 cases per 1000 person-years in HIV-1-seronegative women (relative risk, 1.21; P=.75). Acquisition of HCV was associated with any history of drug use (P<.01). Five of 12 viremic, seroconverting individuals cleared viremia. Incident HCV infection among HIV-1-infected and HIV-1-uninfected women was low. It was linked to drug use and commonly resolved.

Hepatitis C Viral Heterogeneity Based on Core Gene and an Attempt to Design Small Interfering RNA Against Strains Resistant to Interferon in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

“…The Dendrogram was developed to find an association between studied samples and reference accessions from other countries; overall, it was revealed that the studied HCV samples of the present study exhibited long branch lengths, indicating an ancient history of their evolution and their genetically stable genome composition; this might be attributed to the suppressed or compromised immune pressure of the host. Previous reports supported the evidence that cases where immune response is compromised, there are a less chance of viral clearance [43][44]. Secondly, it was evident that history of evolution of virus is more ancient in Pakistan than other countries.…”

Correlates of CD4+ and CD8+ Lymphocyte Counts in High-Risk Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-Seronegative Women enrolled in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS)

“…A total of 22 HIV negative women were excluded, because CD4 and CD8 cell counts were unavailable in these participants. Subjects in the original cohort contributed a median (range) of 11 (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16) visits and those in the new cohort contributed 3 (1-4) visits to the analysis. Baseline characteristics of the study participants are listed in Table 1.…”

“…In 1999, the most recent plasma specimen placed in the repository for each of the initially HCV seronegative women was tested for antibody to HCV using a third generation enzyme immunoassay (HCV EIA 3.0, Ortho-Diagnostic Systems, Raritan, NJ) according to the manufacturer's directions. For those women who had apparent HCV seroconversion based on discordance between this last specimen result and that of the first enrollment specimen, antibody testing was repeated (serial HCV EIA3.0 followed by RIBA (RIBA HCV 3.0; Chiron Corp., Emeryville, CA) [5].…”

High Rate of Spontaneous Negativity for Hepatitis C Virus RNA after Establishment of Chronic Infection in Alaska Natives

“…These authors did not document low viral HCV RNA levels or female sex as predictors of spontaneous clearance. Other studies similarly document loss of detectable virus, but available data make it difficult to ascertain the timing of resolution and whether subjects had acute or chronic HCV infection [19,20].…”