Evaluation of Risk Factors for Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Individuals Infected with the HIV in Shiraz, Iran

HIV and HCV are major public health concerns. Because of similar methods of transmission, HIV-HCV co-infection is common. Except for injecting drug use, there was not common idea for other routes of transmission for HCV among HIV infected persons. The aim of this study is evaluation of characteristics associated with hepatitis C virus infection in individuals infected with the HIV. One hundred HIV infected pairs were involved in this matched case-control study. Each pair consists of one HCV infected patient and one HCV negative patient. Cases and controls were matched for age, gender and marital status. In those subjects, association between HIV/HCV co infection and state of urbanization, injection drug use, imprisonment, extra marriage sexual contact, blood transfusion before 1993, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, tattooing, use of common blade, HBV infection, AIDS were evaluated with conditional logistic regression model. Injecting drug use (OR=3.47; %95CI: 1.14-10.63), history of incarceration (OR= 3.5; %95CI: 1.005-10.63) and history of tattooing in prison (OR=4.27; %95CI: 1.24-14.7) were independently associated with co-infection by hepatitis C virus. Individual risk factors for HIV/HCV co infection included a history of injection drug use, imprisonment, and in prison tattooing.