Hepatitis C virus: molecular and epidemiological evidence of male-to-female transmission

Abstract

Introduction:There is general consensus that hepatitis C virus is effi ciently transmitted by the parenteral route, whereas data on viral transmission by sexual or non-sexual intrafamilial contact are confl icting. Objective and Method: The aim of this study was to investigate the transmission of hepatitis C virus in nine heterosexual couples. Result: The mean age of the couples was 43.7 years. When interviewed, all of the women denied the presence of risk factors for acquisition of the infection, whereas the cause of infection in the nine husbands could be attributed to blood transfusions in two of them (22.2%), use of intravenous and inhaled drugs in six (66.7%), acupuncture in one (11.1%), and tattooing in one (11.1%). All men and none of the women reported sexual relations with sex professionals. The mean homology score (Non Structural 5b-hepatitis C virus) was 98.4%. Among the nine couples with matching subtypes, one (11.1%) was infected with subtype 1a, three (33.3%) with subtype 1b, and fi ve (55.5%) with subtype 3a. Shared personal hygiene items showed a much higher correlation with the possible route of transmission and were better supported by the sequence homology data than the other associated risk factors. Three (33.3%) couples shared toothbrushes, seven (77.8%) shared razor blades, eight (88.8%) shared nail clippers, and six (66.7%) shared manicure cutters. Conclusion: Sharing of personal hygiene items was a confounding factor in the discussion of sexual hepatitis C virus transmission and the hypothesis of male-to-female transmission was supported in this study.

The Association between Female Genital Cutting and Spousal HCV Infection in Egypt

“…More recent studies have found evidence of spousal transmission of HCV in endemic areas [5, 6, 11, 13, 28–30]. Genotypic studies provide further evidence of the spousal transmission of HCV [8, 15, 30, 31]. …”

“…This elevated risk of incident of HCV of family members could be due to sharing of implements such as razors or toothbrushes or due to sexual transmission between family members [14, 15]. Alternatively, the elevated risk may be due to shared risk factors (such as the family members all attending a particular health practitioner) rather than being caused by direct transmission between family members [13].…”

Spouse-to-Spouse Transmission and Evolution of Hypervariable Region 1 and 5’ Untranslated Region of Hepatitis C Virus Analyzed by Next-Generation Sequencing

“…Confirmation that a horizontal transmission event has occurred could be demonstrated by a high homology between the respective HCV genomes. Nevertheless, few of the previous studies included phylogenetic analysis [ 48 – 51 ] and sequence comparison was done only on the consensus sequence level [ 5 , 51 – 53 ].…”

Manifestações musculoesqueléticas associadas à hepatite C crônica

“…Um estudo realizado por Cavalheiro et al (2009), através da análise filogenética da região não estrutural 5B do vírus da hepatite C entre 24 casais infectados pelo HCV, mostrou alto grau de similaridade do genoma do vírus da hepatite C, dando suporte à hipótese de transmissão entre esses casais. Cavalheiro et al (2010) afirma que o contato intrafamiliar também é um importante fator na transmissão do HCV.…”