Sah Uday Kant, Sah Anil Kumar, Ansari Mehraj, Chaudhary Priyanka, Gupta Saurav, Kumar Pawan, Sah Jay Prakash
Department of Biochemistry, Singhania University, Pacheri Bari, Rajasthan 333515, India.
Annapurna Research Center, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal.
Trop Med Infect Dis. 2023 Jul 13;8(7):361. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed8070361.
Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) co-infection and its genotypic distribution in people living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) show global inconsistency. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and genotypic distribution patterns of HCV, along with viral load, in people living with HIV. This cross-sectional study was conducted at SRL Diagnostics Nepal, Pvt. Ltd. in 203 HIV-seropositive patients attending the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH), Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, Nepal from October 2021 to May 2022. The viral load and HCV genotypes were estimated from RNA extracted from the blood sample (plasma) of PLHIV by using a standard Q-PCR protocol. HCV infection was considered as a core variable, whereas covariates used for this study were duration of HIV infection, age, sex, and ART regimen. Out of total 203 PLHIV, the estimated prevalence of HCV co-infection was 115 (56.6%). Male gender was a unique characteristic associated with a high prevalence of HCV co-infection compared to females. The HCV viral load among PLHIV ranged from 34 to 3,000,000 IU/mL. Among HCV co-infected PLHIV, 56 (48.69%) had a low level of HCV viral load. Interestingly, only 3 (2.6%) patients had an HCV viral load higher than 3,000,000 IU/mL. Diverse HCV genotypes were found in the population, including genotypes 1, 1a, 3a, 5a, and 6. However, genotype 3 was the most prevalent HCV variant among HCV-co-infected PLHIV, with a distribution of 36 (61.1%) and viral load ranging from 34 to 3000 IU/mL. HCV co-infection is frequent in the Nepalese population of people living with HIV, particularly due to HCV genotypic variant 3. The findings of this study could be useful for the management and clearance of the HCV co-infection in PLHIV, aiming to provide a good quality of life.
丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）合并感染及其在人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）感染者中的基因型分布在全球范围内存在不一致性。因此，本研究旨在调查HIV感染者中HCV的流行率、基因型分布模式以及病毒载量。这项横断面研究于2021年10月至2022年5月在尼泊尔加德满都马哈拉杰甘杰特里布万大学教学医院就诊的203例HIV血清阳性患者中，在尼泊尔SRL诊断私人有限公司进行。通过使用标准的Q-PCR方案，从HIV感染者（PLHIV）血样（血浆）中提取的RNA估计病毒载量和HCV基因型。HCV感染被视为核心变量，而本研究使用的协变量为HIV感染持续时间、年龄、性别和抗逆转录病毒治疗方案。在总共203例PLHIV中，估计HCV合并感染的流行率为115例（56.6%）。与女性相比，男性是与HCV合并感染高流行率相关的一个独特特征。PLHIV中的HCV病毒载量范围为34至3,000,000 IU/mL。在HCV合并感染的PLHIV中，56例（48.69%）的HCV病毒载量较低。有趣的是，只有3例（2.6%）患者的HCV病毒载量高于3,000,000 IU/mL。在该人群中发现了多种HCV基因型，包括基因型1、1a、3a、5a和6。然而，基因型3是HCV合并感染的PLHIV中最常见的HCV变异型，分布为36例（61.1%）且病毒载量范围为34至3000 IU/mL。HCV合并感染在尼泊尔HIV感染者人群中很常见，特别是由于HCV基因型变异型3。本研究结果可能有助于管理和清除PLHIV中的HCV合并感染，旨在提供良好的生活质量。
