Epidemiology of HIV/HCV co-infection in patients attended at an university hospital school at in Catanduva, São Paulo – Brazil

Abstract

The prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) among HIV-positive was determined in this investigation. The study was conducted at Emilio Carlos Hospital, Catanduva, Sao Paulo, Brazil. A retrospective study on clinical-laboratory, epidemiological and socio-demographic data of 600 patients treated at a teaching hospital of tertiary level was performed from January 2004 to December 2007. The prevalence of coinfection with HIV/HCV was 11.6 % (n = 70), predominantly in male patients (71.4 %) and mean age of 43.2 years, and 57.1 % of Caucasian ethnicity and low educational level (44.3 %). The transmission of HIV/ HCV by parenteral route in men, and by sexual contact in women was statistically significant (p = 0.0005). The use of injectable illicit drugs was also significant for males (p = 0.0208). The prevalence of HCV was 14.3 % for subtype 1a and 11.4 % for 3a subtype. Despite the prevalence of co-infection in the city of Catanduva be lower than the national average, this situation is still a major problem in this population, even with the availability of TARV, requiring strategies for its control and prevention by public health authorities.