Prevalence of hepatitis B and C in the sera of patients with HIV infection in São Paulo, Brazil

• Main Authors: MENDES-CORRÊA Maria Cássia J., BARONE Antonio Alci, CAVALHEIRO Norma de Paula, TENGAN Fátima Mitiko, GUASTINI Cristina
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 2000
• Subjects: Hepatitis C; HIV; Hepatitis B; Epidemiology; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/238e73bb4b574a32aa88cfa440a67ff6

The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis B and C viruses in a group of HIV infected patients, followed at a single institution since 1996. 1,693 HIV positive patients (1,162 male, 531 female) were tested for HBV infection. Virological markers for HBV included HBsAg and total anti-HBc by ELISA. 1,457 patients (1,009 male, 448 female) were tested for HCV infection. Detection of HCV antibodies was carried out by ELISA. A sample of HCV antibody positive patients was tested for HCV by PCR to confirm infection. Of 1,693 patients tested for HBV, 654 (38.6%) and 96 (5.7%) were anti-HBc and HBsAg positive, respectively. Of 1,457 patients tested for HCV, 258 (17.7%) were anti-HCV positive. 82 of these patients were also tested by PCR and 81 were positive (98%). Of 1,411 patients tested for HBV and HCV 26 (1.8%) were positive for both viruses.