title: [Hepatitis C: prevalence and risk factors among patients with HIV/AIDS in Belém Pará, in Brazilian Amazon].
abstract: The objective of this investigation was to study the prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection and to identify possible risk factors for its transmission, in 406 adult patients with HIV/AIDS who attended at public health services, in Belém city, Pará, Brazil. The anti-HCV was performed by third generation immunoenzymatic technique, and the HCV RNA by polymerase chain reaction. The overall prevalence of hepatitis C virus was 16% (CI: 12.4 - 19.6). Multivariate analysis showed association between virus C infection and age, with significant risk in the group about fifty years old or more (OR=9.75), blood transfusion (OR=4.74) and use of injecting drugs (OR=149.28). The hepatitis C virus infection was detected in 83.7% of intravenous drug users and 22.1% of transfused patients. These data indicate the efficient transmission of the virus through the percutaneous exposition and reaffirm the high risk to hepatitis C among injectable illicit drug user.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Patologia Tropical do Curso de Medicina do Centro de Ciências da Saúde da Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, PA, Brasil. marita@ufpa.br
authors.forename: Maria Rita de Cassia Costa
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Monteiro
authors.forename: Margarida Maria Passeri
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: do Nascimento
authors.forename: Afonso Dinis Costa
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Passos
authors.forename: José Fernando de Castro
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Figueiredo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications*; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012328:RNA Viruses; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies