Alarming increase in tuberculosis and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among HIV infected intravenous drug users

Alarming increase in tuberculosis and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among HIV infected intravenous drug users

INTRODUCTION In the last years, we observed an alarming increase in the number of newly diagnosed HIV infected intravenous drug users (IDUs) co-infected with hepatitis viruses or with severe bacterial infections. The aim of our study was to assess the incidence, the demographic and clinical characteristics of IDUs diagnosed with HIV, HCV and tuberculosis (TB). MATERIALS AND METHODS Prospectiv...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and re-infection among HCV- and HIV/HCV-infected injection drug users

Methods We identified a cohort of IDUs receiving care at the Pender Community Health Centre on Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. Potential subjects were identified as either never having been infected with HCV (noninfected arm), having spontaneously cleared the virus (spontaneous arm), or having achieved a sustained virologic response on antiviral treatment (SVR arm). A questionnaire to identify ...

Co-infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Estonian intravenous drug users HIV epidemic

Estonian concentrated HIV epidemic started in August 2000 when rare HIV-1 CRF06_cpx was introduced into the population of intravenous drug users (IDUs). The majority of these HIV-positive subjects are likely co-infected with HCV but the prevalence of HCV and its genotypes during HIV concentrated epidemic in Estonia is largely unknown. The Estonian HIV database collects clinical and laboratory d...

HIV and HCV transmission among Intravenous Drug Users

HIV and HCV Transmission Among Intravenous Drug Users

This paper examines the evidence for harm reduction policies on HIV and HCV transmission, evaluating the benefit to drug users and the community. Surveys show that HIV is primarily transmitted through unsafe sexual activity, while HCV is almost exclusively transmitted by unsafe drug injecting. A review of studies on NSPs and their effectiveness in preventing transmission of HCV and HIV shows th...