Epidemiological implications of HIV-hepatitis C co-infection in South and Southeast Asia

Curr HIV/AIDS Rep. 2014 Jun;11(2):128-33. doi: 10.1007/s11904-014-0206-z.

Abstract

We sought to profile the epidemiological implication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection from South and Southeast Asia by reviewing original studies reporting prevalence of HIV-HCV co-infection and their risk factors. Thirteen papers cited in the PubMed database and published in 2012 and 2013 were reviewed. The overall HCV co-infection prevalence ranged broadly from 1.2 % to 98.5 % among HIV-positive people in South and Southeast Asia. Among HCV seropositive blood donors in Nepal, 5.75 % had HIV co-infection. Injecting drug use (IDU) was one of the key risk factors of co-infection, with HCV infection reaching 89.8 % and 98.5 % among HIV-positive injecting drug users in Vietnam. The most recent data from South and Southeast Asia suggest the urgency of implementation of comprehensive prevention and control strategies of HIV-HCV co-infection.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Asia, Southeastern / epidemiology
  • Coinfection / epidemiology*
  • Coinfection / prevention & control
  • Comorbidity
  • Drug Users / statistics & numerical data*
  • Global Health / trends*
  • HIV Infections / epidemiology*
  • HIV Infections / prevention & control
  • Hepatitis C / epidemiology*
  • Hepatitis C / prevention & control
  • Humans
  • Prevalence
  • Risk Factors