PREVALENCE AND DETERMINANTS OF ANTIBODIES TO HEPATITIS-C VIRUS AND MARKERS FOR HEPATITIS-B VIRUS-INFECTION IN PATIENTS WITH HIV-INFECTION IN AQUITAINE

Objective-To evaluate the prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C viru s and serological markers for hepatitis B virus infection in patients with HIV. Design-Cross sectional survey. Setting-Aquitaine, southweste rn France, 1991-94. Subjects-1935 HIV positive patients seen at least once since June 1991. Main outcome measures-Presence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus were detected by second or third generation enzyme l inked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and recombinant immunoblot assay (RI BA) and markers for hepatitis B virus detected by ELISA. Results-The p revalence was 42.5% (823) for antibodies to hepatitis C virus, 56.4 (5 07) for antibodies to hepatitis B core antigen, 6.9% (133) for hepatit is B surface antigen, 30.2% (584) for antibodies to hepatitis B core a nd surface antigen with no detectable surface antigen, 26.2% (507) for antibodies to core antigen only, and 4.8% (92) for antibodies to surf ace antigen only. The prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus wa s 86.1% (726/843) in subjects who had bloodborne HIV infection and 7.3 % (66/899) in those with sexually acquired infection. The prevalence o f markers for hepatitis B was higher among homosexuals than in the oth er groups of patients, except for antibodies to surface antigen alone. The relation between markers for hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus wa s negative among men but positive among women. Conclusions-The results favour the hypothesis that hepatitis C virus is sexually transmitted much less commonly than either HIV or hepatitis B virus.