Molecular epidemiology of acute HCV infection in HIV–positive patients from Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo

Abstract

Background: Acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections have been increasingly reported among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) in the Asia-Pacific region. It remains unknown whether international network of HCV transmission has occurred in this region. Methods: HIV-positive patients with acute HCV infection, defined as HCV seroconversion within a year or documented acute hepatitis with seroconversion, diagnosed in Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo during 2010-2016 were included in this molecular epidemiology study. The NS5B region of the HCV genome (365 bp) was amplified using nested polymerase chain reaction and sequenced. Results: Of 234 HIV-positive patients with acute HCV infection, all were male with 94% being MSM. At the diagnosis of acute HCV infection, 73.5% had concurrent sexually transmitted diseases and 88.0% were receiving combination antiretroviral therapy. The most prevalent HCV genotype was 3a, 2a and 1b in Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo respectively. Nine independent clusters belonging to five genotypes (1b, 2a, 2c, 3a and 6a) were identified, each of which occurred in one city without overlapping except for one 3a sequence from Taipei that was closely related genetically to the Hong Kong cluster. Conclusions: No international network of HCV transmission was identified among HIV-positive patients in the three Asia-Pacific cities. The transmission dynamics of

Review on the molecular epidemiology of sexually acquired hepatitis C virus infection in the Asia‐Pacific region

“…Detail of the search results is shown in the flowchart (Figure 1). In total, 13 articles published from 2010 to 2019 were included, comprising 12 cross‐sectional studies and one cohort study [13‐25]. Among them, two were multi‐centre and 11 were city‐based.…”

“…Genotypes 1 (35.7%), 2 (20.4%) and 3 (32.6%) accounted for 88.7% of all cases, whereas subtypes 1b, 2a and 3a, respectively, made up 23.0%, 19.1% and 29.5% (Table 2). Other than the predominance of genotype 2 in Taipei, Hubei and Guangxi, genotype 1 or 3 was more common in all other countries/cities [15,17,20,25]. Genetic diversity was noted with at least three variants recorded in each country/city, except for Surabaya, where all sequences therein belonged to only two subtypes (1b and 3k respectively) [22].…”

“…Genetic diversity was noted with at least three variants recorded in each country/city, except for Surabaya, where all sequences therein belonged to only two subtypes (1b and 3k respectively) [22]. The prevalent genotypes of sexually acquired HCV were similar to those in the general population in Australia and New Zealand [13], China [14‐19], Japan [23], Pakistan [24] and Taiwan [20,25,26] (Table 3).…”

Large transmission cluster of acute hepatitis C identified among HIV‐positive men who have sex with men in Bangkok, Thailand

“…Epidemics of acute HCV infection transmitted through sexual networks of MSM have been reported in the major cities of North America, Europe and Australia 1‐4 . Although data from the Asia‐Pacific region are more limited, similar outbreaks of acute HCV have been observed among MSM with HIV infection in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan 5‐7 . Molecular epidemiology using HCV genetic sequences can identify transmission routes and networks, and can help to inform public health interventions 8 .…”

“…Molecular epidemiology using HCV genetic sequences can identify transmission routes and networks, and can help to inform public health interventions 8 . Molecular data from HIV‐positive MSM with acute HCV infection in Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo showed different HCV genotypic distributions in each location and almost no overlap in the HCV transmission networks across the cities 7 …”