TY - JOUR AU - Alidjinou, Enagnon Kazali AU - Moukassa, Donatien AU - Ebatetou-Ataboho, Eben AU - Mahoungou, Gael Honal AU - Pambou, Jean-Paul AU - Sané, Famara AU - Prevost, Brigitte AU - Bocket, Laurence AU - Ibara, Jean-Rosaire AU - Hober, Didier PY - 2014/08/13 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Higher levels of hepatitis C virus RNA found in blood donors co-infected with HIV as compared to HCV mono-infected donors JF - The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries JA - J Infect Dev Ctries VL - 8 IS - 08 SE - Brief Original Articles DO - 10.3855/jidc.4767 UR - https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/25116677 SP - 1068-1071 AB - <p class="SmallText">Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections are public health problems in sub-Saharan countries such as the Republic of Congo. HIV infection could impact the characteristics of HCV infection in co-infected people. We investigated HCV-HIV co-infection among blood donors in Congo.</p> <p class="SmallText">Methodology: Ninety-nine HIV-positive and/or HCV-seropositive blood donors were selected during screening and subsequently tested for aminotransferases and HCV RNA.</p> <p class="SmallText">Results: A total of 29 donors were found positive for HCV RNA (HCV-infected individuals), including 19/60 (31.66%) HIV donors (co-infected) and 10/39 (25.64%) non-HIV donors (mono-infected). Most of the co-infected donors (17/19) displayed a high viral load (&gt; 5 log). The median HCV RNA level was at least 2 logs higher in co-infected people. The levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were also slightly higher in co-infected donors than in HCV mono-infected donors.</p> <p class="SmallText">Conclusion: This study reports HCV-HIV co-infection among blood donors in Congo and shows that HCV viral load is higher in HIV donors.</p> ER -