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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2000, p. 575-577, Vol. 38, No. 2
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Screening for Hepatitis C Virus in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Individuals

Chloe L. Thio,1 Karen R. Nolt,1 Jacquie Astemborski,2 David Vlahov,2,3 Kenrad E. Nelson,2 and David L. Thomas1,2,*

Division of Infectious Diseases, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,1 and Department of Epidemiology, The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health,2 Baltimore, Maryland, and Center for Urban Epidemiological Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, New York, New York3

Received 27 July 1999/Accepted 27 October 1999

Immunosuppression from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may impair antibody formation, and false-negative hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV) tests have been reported in individuals coinfected with HIV and HCV. It is unknown if the frequency of false-negative tests is sufficiently high to change screening recommendations in this setting. Thus, the prevalence of false-negative results for anti-HCV by third-generation tests was determined with samples from HIV-infected individuals. Sera from 559 HIV-infected and 944 HIV-negative prospectively followed injection drug users were tested for anti-HCV by a third-generation enzyme immunoassay and for HCV RNA by using a branched DNA assay and the HCV COBAS AMPLICOR system. Of 559 HIV-infected participants, 547 (97.8%) were anti-HCV positive. One of the remaining 12 anti-HCV-negative participants was HCV RNA positive, and she later developed detectable anti-HCV. Of the 944 HIV-negative participants, 825 (87.4%) were anti-HCV positive. One of the remaining 119 anti-HCV-negative participants was HCV RNA positive, and she also developed detectable anti-HCV at a later visit. These data indicate that HIV infection does not alter the approach to hepatitis C virus screening, which should be performed with third-generation assays for anti-HCV unless acute infection is suspected.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University, 1147 Ross Research Building, 720 Rutland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21205. Phone: (410) 955-0349. Fax: (410) 614-7564. E-mail: dt{at}jhu.edu.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2000, p. 575-577, Vol. 38, No. 2
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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