Hepatitis C virus infection in patients with tuberculosis in Central Brazil.

SETTING

Goiânia City, Goiás State, Brazil.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, risk factors, HCV genotype/ subtype, HCV viral load and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status in patients with tuberculosis (TB) in Central Brazil.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study was carried out with 402 patients who were under tuberculosis (TB) treatment in the reference hospital for infectious diseases in Goiânia, Goiás, Central Brazil.

RESULTS

The prevalence rates of HCV and HIV were respectively 7.5% and 27.6%. Two thirds of the HCV-infected patients (20/30) were HIV-positive. Age, injecting drug use (IDU) and HIV status were factors independently associated with HCV infection. HCV RNA was detected in 23 serum samples; HCV RNA levels were measured in 22/23 samples. HCV RNA level was slightly higher in HCV-HIV co-infected patients than in HCV monoinfected patients. Genotypes 1 (n = 17) and 3 (n = 6) were determined by LiPA. Using phylogenetic tree analysis of the NS5B region, subtypes 1a (n = 12), 1b (n = 2) and 3a (n = 6) were identified.

CONCLUSION

These data indicate that patients with TB may benefit from integrated HIV and HCV screening, which may have an important impact upon TB management and treatment.