Background
and Aim of the Study: HCV
infection is the most common co-infection in HIV patients so we aimed to
determine the prevalence of HIV infection in chronic HCV patients and its
impact on chronic HCV patients treatment response.Patients and Methods: A retrospective study performed on
1852 chronic HCV patients subjected to anti HCV treatment with alpha 2a, alpha
2b or standard interferon and Ribavirin and tested and confirmed for HIV co
infection by ELISA twice. Upon HIV testing, two groups were generated, Group1: 1840 HCV patients, positive for HCV
RNA, and Group 2: 12 HIV positive patients and positive
also for HCV. Informed consents were obtained from patients. Proper
hematological biochemical investigations and other causes of hepatitis rather
than HCV were carried out and excluded. Results: The prevalence of HIV
among HCV infected Egyptian patients was 0.64%. We found a male gender predominance; the
hematological and biochemical parameters were similar in both groups with mild
elevations in liver enzymes in group II. High rates of failure to treatment
(77.8%) with lower SVR (22.2%) were in group II compared to group I (59.9%) as
SVR was 22.1% in group II vs. 34.1% in group I, however with no statistical
significance. Conclusion: Despite the lower prevalence of HIV in
Egyptian patients with HCV infection, it still affects their response to
treatment .Therefore; we must screen HIV in all HCV patients and recommend its
test to routine investigations before starting HCV therapy.
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