HIV coinfection with hepatitis c epidemiology and demographics

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

The majority of coinfected people are injection drug user (IDUs). HCV is acquired relatively soon after individuals begin injecting drugs. Within 5 years of beginning to inject, 50% to 80% of IDUs are infected with HCV. As a result, many IDUs who become infected with HIV are already infected with HCV. It is estimated that 50% to 90% of IDUs with HIV also have HCV .

Between 1996 and 2000, more than 80% of the patients admitted to a large HIV/AIDS care center in Madrid, Spain, were IDUs. The proportion of these patients who were admitted because of liver failure almost doubled, from 9% to 16%.

About one-third of people with HIV are coinfected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV), with a considerably higher prevalence among injection-drug users.