Detection and analysis of hepatitis C virus in HIV-infected patients in the Guangxi province of China

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence rate of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive individuals and to study the infection status of HCV RNA in HIV-infected individuals who did not have anti-HCV antibodies in the Guangxi province of China, in order to provide basis for screening and clinical treatment of hepatitis C in future. Data were collected from patients recruited via a questionnaire. Between August 2008 and January 2009, 300 HIV-infected individuals were randomly selected from various HIV monitoring points in Liuzhou and Qinzhou (Guangxi, China). In addition, 41 patients with only hepatitis C were recruited from a hospital clinic (First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China). HCV antibodies in patient serum samples were detected by ELISA. HCV RNA expression was detected using nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), HCV RNA levels in the serum were evaluated using quantitative fluorescence PCR, and HCV genotypes were confirmed using restriction fragment length polymorphism. The infection rate of HCV in the HIV-infected people was 48.67%. The anti-HCV positive rate differed between routes of disease transmission: Anti-HCV positive rate was 63.7% among drug users, 34.96% among sex-transmitted persons and 1.37% among other persons. In the anti-HCV-negative group, the HCV RNA-positive rate was 26.62%. In the anti-HCV-positive group, HCV RNA positive rate was 78.08%. HCV RNA level of HIV/HCV coinfected patients was higher than those infected with HCV alone, and there was no difference of anti-HCV-positive rate among different levels of HCV RNA. HCV genotypes of HIV/HCV coinfected persons showed diversity across Guangxi, and the predominant ones were the 1b and mixed subtypes. The predominant HCV genotypes were 6a, mixed subtypes and 3b amongst patients that contracted HCV via drug use-related routes of transmission. The patients with HCV transmission routes other than drug-related routes possessed 1b and 1a+1b genotypes. In conclusion, there was a large proportion of HIV infected persons with mixed HCV infection in the Guangxi province of China. The present results show that 26.62% of HCV-infected persons will be fail to be diagnosed with hepatitis C virus coinfection if we simply use ELISA to detect HCV antibody. The predominant HCV genotypes were 1b, mixed, 6a and 3b in HIV/HCV coinfected persons.

Coinfection of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C Virus in Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus

“…Our study findings were in accordance with the published studies [1,[12][13][14][15][16][17]. Sharma et al revealed that HBV/HIV infection was found in 11% while HCV/HIV was found in 13% of patients.…”

“…A study from Guangxi, China, revealed that 48.67% of patients with seropositive HIV also had HCV. Furthermore, the highest rate of anti‑HCV positivity was found in drug users [ 15 ]. Since HCV and HIV share similar transmission routes (blood transfusions, unprotected sexual intercourse, intravenous drug users, parenteral routes, perinatal routes (mother to child), and hemodialysis) coinfection of HIV/HCV is more common than HBV/HCV [ 16 ].…”

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B and C Viruses, and HIV among Antenatal Pregnant Women in Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria

“…Hepatitis B virus and HCV infections are known to be the common cause of chronic hepatitis and leading causes of liver-related deaths [3,4]. Both HBV and HCV have been implicated in liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma [3][4][5][6], while HIV infection has been widely established to target and decrease the CD4 + cell, a glycoprotein found abundantly on the surfaces of regulatory T cells, T-helper cells, dendritic cells, monocytes and macrophages [7].…”

“…About 3% of the world population is reported to be infected with HCV [3,4]. Many risk factors have been documented to be associated with single, double and triple co-infection of these viruses [1,5,7,9]. The natural causes of HBV and HCV infections show variability among individuals [11] and all three viruses have been identified to share common routes of transmission [7,11,12].…”

“…Some of the factors that predispose an individual to infection with these viruses are: transfusion of infected blood sample, tattooing, intravenous drug use, hemodialysis and abortion [1,7,11,12]. Others are unprotected sex, infants born by HBV, HCV and HIV infected mothers, reuse of nondisposable needle without sterilization and frequent dental procedures [4,5,11].…”