Re-emergent Hepatitis C Viremia After Apparent Clearance in HIV-Positive Men Who Have Sex With Men: Reinfection or Late Recurrence?

HCV epidemiology in high-risk groups and the risk of reinfection

Injecting risk behaviours among people who inject drugs (PWID) and high-risk sexual practices among men who have sex with men (MSM) are important routes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission. Current direct-acting antiviral treatment offers unique opportunities for reductions in HCV-related liver disease burden and epidemic control in high-risk groups, but these prospects could be counteracted by HCV reinfection due to on-going risk behaviours after successful treatment. Based on existing data from small and heterogeneous studies of interferon-based treatment, the incidence of reinfection after sustained virological response range from 2-6/100 person years among PWID to 10-15/100 person years among human immunodeficiency virus-infected MSM. These differences mainly reflect heterogeneity in study populations with regards to risk behaviours, but also reflect variations in study designs and applied virological methods. Increasing levels of reinfection are to be expected as we enter the interferon-free treatment era. Individual- and population-level efforts to address and prevent reinfection should therefore be undertaken when providing HCV care for people with on-going risk behaviour. Constructive strategies include acknowledgement, education and counselling, harm reduction optimization, scaled-up treatment including treatment of injecting networks, post-treatment screening, and rapid retreatment of reinfections.

Hepatitis C virus reinfection incidence and treatment outcome among HIV-positive MSM

OBJECTIVE

Liver disease secondary to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the context of HIV infection is one of the leading non-AIDS causes of death. Sexual transmission of HCV infection among HIV-positive MSM appears to be leading to increased reports of acute HCV infection. Reinfection after successful treatment or spontaneous clearance is reported among HIV-positive MSM but the scale of reinfection is unknown. We calculate and compare HCV reinfection rates among HIV-positive MSM after spontaneous clearance and successful medical treatment of infection.

DESIGN

Retrospective analysis of HIV-positive MSM with sexually acquired HCV who subsequently spontaneously cleared or underwent successful HCV treatment between 2004 and 2012.

RESULTS

Among 191 individuals infected with HCV, 44 were reinfected over 562 person-years (py) of follow-up with an overall reinfection rate of 7.8/100 py [95% confidence interval (CI) 5.8-10.5]. Eight individuals were subsequently reinfected a second time at a rate of 15.5/100 py (95% CI 7.7-31.0). Combining all reinfections, 20% resulted in spontaneous clearance and treatment sustained viral response rates were 73% (16/22) for genotypes one and four and 100% (2/2) for genotypes two and three. Among 145 individuals with a documented primary infection, the reinfection rate was 8.0 per 100 py (95% CI 5.7-11.3) overall, 9.6/100 py (95% CI 6.6-14.1) among those successfully treated and 4.2/100 py (95% CI 1.7-10.0) among those who spontaneously cleared. The secondary reinfection rate was 23.2/100 py (95% CI 11.6-46.4).

CONCLUSION

Despite efforts at reducing risk behaviour, HIV-positive MSM who clear HCV infection remain at high risk of reinfection. This emphasizes the need for increased sexual education, surveillance and preventive intervention work.

The more you look, the more you find: effects of hepatitis C virus testing interval on reinfection incidence and clearance and implications for future vaccine study design

INTRODUCTION

Studies have explored whether spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection decreases the likelihood of reinfection or increases the probability of clearance. This analysis investigates whether the conflicting findings from these studies could be due to differences in frequency of HCV RNA testing.

METHODS

A model simulated the dynamics of HCV reinfection and clearance among a cohort of injection drug users. For different reinfection incidence and clearance rates, the model evaluated the accuracy of epidemiological studies that used different HCV testing frequencies.

RESULTS

Experimental estimates for the reinfection incidence and clearance probability will be accurate (<20% error) if the testing interval is less than the reinfection clearance duration. Otherwise, experimental estimates can greatly underestimate the real values (≤66% error if reinfection duration is 1 month and the testing interval is 3 months). Uncertainty in experimental estimates also increases at lower reinfection incidences, whereas for lower clearance probabilities the uncertainty in the estimated clearance probability increases but estimated reinfection incidence decreases.

DISCUSSION

Differences in HCV testing interval could account for most between-study variability in the estimated probability of clearing reinfections and is likely to have biased reinfection incidence estimates. Our findings suggest that a high reinfection clearance probability (>75%) is consistent with data.

Alarming incidence of hepatitis C virus re-infection after treatment of sexually acquired acute hepatitis C virus infection in HIV-infected MSM

BACKGROUND

Recent data indicate that seroprevalence of sexually transmitted hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among MSM is stabilizing in Amsterdam. However, little is known about the incidence of HCV re-infection in MSM who have cleared their HCV infection. We, therefore, studied the incidence of re-infection in HIV-infected MSM who were HCV RNA-negative following HCV treatment of acute primary infection.

METHODS

Our study population comprised HIV-infected MSM at two large HIV outpatient clinics in Amsterdam, who were previously diagnosed with a sexually transmitted acute HCV infection and tested HCV RNA-negative at the end of treatment. We defined HCV re-infection as detectable HCV RNA in individuals with an undetectable HCV RNA at the end of treatment accompanied by a switch in HCV genotype or clade. Person-time methods were used to calculate the incidence of re-infection.

RESULTS

Fifty-six persons who became HCV RNA-negative during primary acute HCV treatment were included. Five of the 56 cases relapsed and were not analysed. Eleven persons were re-infected. The incidence of HCV re-infection in this group was 15.2 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 8.0-26.5). The cumulative incidence was 33% within 2 years.

DISCUSSION

An alarmingly high incidence of HCV re-infection was found in this group. This high re-infection rate indicates that current prevention measures should be discussed, frequent HCV RNA testing should be continued after successful treatment and, in case of possible relapse, clade typing should be performed to exclude re-infection.

Acute hepatitis C in HIV-infected men who have sex with men: an emerging sexually transmitted infection

Since 2000 outbreaks of acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) who denied injecting drug use have been reported from Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. Given the burden of liver disease, in particular HCV, on the morbidity and mortality in HIV patients in the era of combination antiretroviral therapy, the rapid and significant rise in the incidence of HCV in the HIV-infected MSM population in high-income countries is alarming. This relates to a significant change in the epidemiology of HCV that has occurred, with HCV emerging as a sexually transmitted infection within this population. Work to date suggests that this permucosal HCV transmission results from high-risk sexual and noninjecting drug use behaviours, reopening the discussion on the importance of sexual transmission. Given this occurs almost exclusively in HIV-infected MSM, HIV probably has a critical role mediated either through behavioural and/or biological factors. Finally, the management of acute HCV in HIV infection is complicated by concomitant HIV infection and combination antiretroviral therapy. This review will synthesize the most recent epidemiological, immunological and management issues that have emerged as a result of the epidemic of acute HCV among HIV-infected MSM.