Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the epidemiology of coinfection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV among a cohort of pregnant Thai women.
Methods: Samples from 1771 pregnant women enrolled in three vertical transmission of HIV studies in Bangkok, Thailand, were tested for HCV.
Results: Among HIV-infected pregnant women, HCV seroprevelance was 3.8% and the active HCV infection rate was 3.0%. Among HIV-uninfected pregnant women, 0.3% were HCV-infected. Intravenous drug use by the woman was the factor most strongly associated with HCV seropositivity. Among 48 infants tested for HCV who were born to HIV/HCV coinfected women, two infants were HCV infected for an HCV transmission rate of 4.2% (95% 0.51-14.25%).
Conclusions: HCV seroprevalence and perinatal transmission rates were low among this Thai cohort of HIV-infected pregnant women.