14th Annual Conference of the British HIV Association 23–25 April 2008, Belfast

IS THERE AN UNRECOGNISED EPIDEMIC OF HEPATITIS C INFECTION IN MEN WHO HAVE SEX WITH MEN?

HIV Med 2008 Apr 23-25 (Suppl 1);14:6 (abstract no. O22)

J Turner¹, T Gikanga², V Jones¹, A Copas¹, J Cooper¹, J Stevens¹, E Aarons² and R Gilson^1
1UCL Centre for Sexual Health and HIV Research, London, UK, ²UCL Centre for Virology, London, UK

BACKGROUND: An increasing number of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in HIV positive men who have sex with men (MSM) have been reported. As HCV testing is not routinely offered to HIV-uninfected men or those of unknown HIV status we do not know if there has been an increase in HCV infections in these groups.

METHODS: Starting in March 2007, men attending a GUM/HIV clinic were offered HCV testing. Blood samples were pooled and screened for HCV RNA and antibody to HCV. Samples with detectable RNA but no detectable antibody were considered incident infections. All men were asked about injecting drug use (IDU), sexual orientation, and HIV status. Demographic data and HIV test status within 3 months of HCV testing was collected from the clinic database.

RESULTS: Up to January 2008, 4109 men were recruited. Median age (IQR) was 34 (28-41), 911 were HIV positive, 2876 HIV negative and 322 had unknown HIV status. 2257/3890 (58.0%) were MSM; 101/3961 (2.6%) reported IDU. Of 71(1.8%) MSM reporting IDU, 60 (84.5%) were HIV positive. The overall HCV prevalence was 9.0% (N=82), 0.6% (N=18) and 0.3% (N=1) in men who were HIV positive, HIV negative and men with unknown HIV status respectively. In total, 19/101 HCV infections were previously undiagnosed; 10 chronic (six HIV positive), six resolved and three incident (two HIV positive, one HIV negative). In MSM, HCV prevalence was higher in HIV positive men compared to those with negative or unknown HIV status (9.4% versus 0.7% and 0.0%, p<0.001). Excluding HIV positive men and men reporting IDU, HCV prevalence was only slightly higher in MSM than heterosexuals (0.6% versus 0.3% p=0.17).

CONCLUSION: In this study population there was no evidence of an epidemic of undiagnosed HCV infection in non-IDU MSM who were HIV negative or unaware of their HIV status.

2008-04-23
O22

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