TY - JOUR
T1 - Increase in HCV incidence among men who have sex with men in Amsterdam most likely caused by sexual transmission
AU - Van De Laar, Thijs J.W.
AU - Van Der Bij, Akke K.
AU - Prins, Maria
AU - Bruisten, Sylvia M.
AU - Brinkman, Kees
AU - Ruys, Thomas A.
AU - Van Der Meer, Jan T.M.
AU - De Vries, Henry J.C.
AU - Mulder, Jan Willem
AU - Van Agtmael, Michiel
AU - Jurriaans, Suzanne
AU - Wolthers, Katja C.
AU - Coutinho, Roel A.
PY - 2007/7/15
Y1 - 2007/7/15
N2 - We retrospectively screened 1836 men who have sex with men (MSM) participating in the Amsterdam Cohort Studies (1984-2003) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies. HCV incidence was 0.18/100 person-years (PY) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive MSM (8/4408 PY [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.08-0.36]) but was 0/100 PY in MSM without HIV (0/7807 PY [95% CI, 0.00-0.05]). After 2000, HCV incidence among HIV-positive men increased 10-fold to 0.87/100 PY (5/572 PY [95% CI, 0.28-2.03]). Additional hospital cases (n = 34) showed that MSM in Amsterdam who acquired HCV infection after 2000 reported high rates of ulcerative sexually transmitted infections (59%) and rough sexual techniques (56%), denied injection drug use, and were infected mainly with the difficult-to-treat HCV genotypes 1 (56%) and 4 (36%). Phylogenetic analysis showed 3 monophyletic clusters of MSM-specific HCV strains. The emergence of an MSM-specific transmission network suggests that HIV-positive MSM with high-risk sexual behaviors are at risk for sexually acquired HCV. Targeted prevention and routine HCV screening among HIV-positive MSM is needed to deter the spread of HCV.
AB - We retrospectively screened 1836 men who have sex with men (MSM) participating in the Amsterdam Cohort Studies (1984-2003) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies. HCV incidence was 0.18/100 person-years (PY) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive MSM (8/4408 PY [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.08-0.36]) but was 0/100 PY in MSM without HIV (0/7807 PY [95% CI, 0.00-0.05]). After 2000, HCV incidence among HIV-positive men increased 10-fold to 0.87/100 PY (5/572 PY [95% CI, 0.28-2.03]). Additional hospital cases (n = 34) showed that MSM in Amsterdam who acquired HCV infection after 2000 reported high rates of ulcerative sexually transmitted infections (59%) and rough sexual techniques (56%), denied injection drug use, and were infected mainly with the difficult-to-treat HCV genotypes 1 (56%) and 4 (36%). Phylogenetic analysis showed 3 monophyletic clusters of MSM-specific HCV strains. The emergence of an MSM-specific transmission network suggests that HIV-positive MSM with high-risk sexual behaviors are at risk for sexually acquired HCV. Targeted prevention and routine HCV screening among HIV-positive MSM is needed to deter the spread of HCV.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34447256784&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1086/518796
DO - 10.1086/518796
M3 - Article
C2 - 17570110
AN - SCOPUS:34447256784
VL - 196
SP - 230
EP - 238
JO - Journal of Infectious Diseases
JF - Journal of Infectious Diseases
SN - 0022-1899
IS - 2
ER -