Ana A. Horta (Portugal)
Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto Infectious DiseasesAuthor of 1 Presentation
THE INFLUENCE OF TREATING HEPATITIS C IN HIV POSITIVE CO-INFECTED INTRAVENOUS DRUG USERS
Abstract
Background and Aims
Hepatitis C infects over 5 million people in the European Union. It is estimated that, worldwide, 2-15% of the HIV+ population is infected with hepatitis C, 90% of which are intravenous-drug users. These patients have higher mortality as the infection with HIV fastens the progression of hepatitis C infection. However, the impact of the hepatitis C virus in the progression of the HIV infection is unclear. This study focuses on drug-user patients coinfected with HIV and hepatitis C under treatment with antiretroviral drugs and direct-acting antivirals in a combined therapy center.
Methods
A retrospective cohort study between January 2015 and June 2019 including patients coinfected with HIV and Hepatitis C under combined therapeutics.
Results
We treated 131 patients (90.1% male and 9.9% female with a mean age of 48.9years) The antiretroviral agents more used were abacavir/lamivudine/efavirenz (60.3%; n=79). The direct-acting antivirals preferred were sofosbuvir/ledipasvir (78%; n=103). The Sustained Viral Response to treating hepatitis C at 12 weeks was 97.5%. An increase of 0,24% in absolute count and 7,0% in percentual count of CD4+ T cells was verified. The supressed HIV viral load increased from 95,1% (n=117) to 99.2% (n=122) after achieving Sustained Viral Response. No patients abandoned the treatment.
Conclusions
Treating hepatits C infection improved the immunological status as seen by the increase of CD4+ T cells which may contribute to a greater cell mediated immunity. However, to fully understand the impact of the treatment of hepatitis C in the HIV infection a larger sample of patients and a deeper study of anti-inflammatory cytokines are needed.