GB Virus C (GBV-C) Infection in Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Seropositive Women with or at Risk for HIV Infection

Details

• Alternative Title:
  PLoS One
• Personal Author:
  Blackard, Jason T. ; Ma, Gang ; Welge, Jeffrey A. ; King, Caroline C. ; Taylor, Lynn E. ; Mayer, Kenneth H. ; Klein, Robert S. ; Celentano, David D. ; Sobel, Jack D. ; Jamieson, Denise J. ; Gardner, Lytt
• Description:
  Background
  
  GB virus C (GBV-C) may have a beneficial impact on HIV disease progression; however, the epidemiologic characteristics of this virus are not well characterized. Behavioral factors and gender may lead to differential rates of GBV-C infection; yet, studies have rarely addressed GBV-C infections in women or racial/ethnic minorities. Therefore, we evaluated GBV-C RNA prevalence and genotype distribution in a large prospective study of high-risk women in the US.
  
  Results
  
  438 hepatitis C virus (HCV) seropositive women, including 306 HIV-infected and 132 HIV-uninfected women, from the HIV Epidemiologic Research Study were evaluated for GBV-C RNA. 347 (79.2%) women were GBV-C RNA negative, while 91 (20.8%) were GBV-C RNA positive. GBV-C positive women were younger than GBV-C negative women. Among 306 HIV-infected women, 70 (22.9%) women were HIV/GBV-C co-infected. Among HIV-infected women, the only significant difference between GBV-negative and GBV-positive women was age (mean 38.4 vs. 35.1 years; p<0.001). Median baseline CD4 cell counts and plasma HIV RNA levels were similar. The GBV-C genotypes were 1 (n = 31; 44.3%), 2 (n = 36; 51.4%), and 3 (n = 3; 4.3%). The distribution of GBV-C genotypes in co-infected women differed significantly by race/ethnicity. However, median CD4 cell counts and log10 HIV RNA levels did not differ by GBV-C genotype. GBV-C incidence was 2.7% over a median follow-up of 2.9 (IQR: 1.5, 4.9) years, while GBV-C clearance was 35.7% over a median follow-up of 2.44 (1.4, 3.5) years. 4 women switched genotypes.
  
  Conclusions
  
  Age, injection drug use, a history of sex for money or drugs, and number of recent male sex partners were associated with GBV-C infection among all women in this analysis. However, CD4 cell count and HIV viral load of HIV/HCV/GBV-C co-infected women were not different although race was associated with GBV-C genotype.
  
  
• Subjects:
  5' Untranslated Regions Age Factors CD4 Lymphocyte Count Coinfection Female Flaviviridae Infections GB Virus C Hepacivirus Hepatitis C HIV-1 HIV Infections Humans Prospective Studies RNA, Viral

  More +
• Source:
  PLoS One. 2014; 9(12).
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Volume:
  9
• Issue:
  12
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:0cbaaa4e242f6c1c7a5ba2bc4ca0919fffe530eab122ddd47701f72b7ff7c481
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/26408/cdc_26408_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 224.24 KB ]