The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection among people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Egypt: a cross-sectional study
IAS 2021 July 18-22
BACKGROUND: Egypt is now one of the five fast track countries to meet the 2030 hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination targets, especially after the successful mass screening and treatment campaign"100 million healths" that was recently implemented in 2019. To complement the national elimination efforts we conducted this study as an initiative to screen HIV-infected patients for HCV infection and link them to care.
METHODS: A total of 1004 confirmed HIV' infected patients attending the two main HIV/AIDS reference centers in Cairo, Egypt (Imbaba & Al-abassia)over the period between January 2016 and March 2020 were screened for HCV antibody (Ab)by using fourth-generation HCV Ag-Ab enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). A structured questionnaire was used to capture socio' demographic data, risk factors associated with HCV/HIV co-infection, recent HIV viral load, and CD4+ T-cell counts. Univariate analyses were used to identify associated variables with anti-HCV positivity.
RESULTS: Out of 1004 HIV-infected patients screened for HCV, 34.8% tested positive. HIV/HCV co' infected patients were younger with peak prevalence (47%) in the age group (between 30-39 years) and 89.4% were male. Injection drug use (86.8%) followed by dental procedure history (35.2%) and previous operations(19.8%) were the leading modes of acquiring HCV infection. Table 1and Table 2 show the characteristics of the studied population and risk factors for HCV-coinfection.
CONCLUSIONS: High HCV prevalence among HIV-patients in Egypt signifies the urgent need for targeted testing, linkage to care and treatment along with harm reduction interventions and strict infection control measures to cut the transmission cycle among this group and fulfil the elimination targets.
