Search for Hepatitis in HIV/AIDS Clinical Care

A new protocol for delivering postexposure prophylaxis resulted in relatively high rates of contact tracing, timely treatment, and adherence.

This year's Retrovirus Conference returned to Boston, and despite predictably wintry weather, the premier scientific HIV meeting again attracted researchers and clinicians from all over . . .

In HIV-infected women with isolated antibody to hepatitis B core antigen, use of ART was associated with acquisition of antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen.

Active viral coinfection may alter the production of hepatitis B surface antibody.

New studies advance our knowledge of the natural history of HCV infection — and the reliability of noninvasive tests for liver fibrosis — in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients.

A final statement was released in March from the First European Consensus Conference on the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis B and C (HBV and HCV) . . .

Most patients with isolated hepatitis B core antibody have no evidence of prior HBV infection and may benefit from vaccination.

Several findings presented at the 14th Retrovirus Conference could influence how we treat patients coinfected with viral hepatitis.

New studies presented at IAS addressed the optimal duration of HCV treatment, early predictors of treatment response, and risk factors for liver-related mortality.

On February 3, Roche Products, Ltd. sent a letter to investigators involved in saquinavir studies to alert them that saquinavir/ritonavir should not be coadministered with . . .

In HIV-HBV coinfected individuals, initial treatment with tenofovir + 3TC and sequential monotherapy with tenofovir after 3TC failure produced similar viral suppression rates, at least in the intermediate term.

During a 12-year observational study among HIV-infected patients, the prevalence of HCV coinfection decreased from 37% to 20%.

In an observational cohort study that showed a high incidence of hepatitis B virus infection after HIV diagnosis, HBV vaccination was effective only in a subgroup with HBV surface antibody titers ≥10 IU/L.

ART may decrease hepatic necroinflammatory activity in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients with CD4 counts >350 cells/mm3.

New observational data suggest that HCV coinfection does not negatively influence CD4-cell recovery in patients receiving suppressive antiretroviral therapy.

Occult HBV infection was rare in a cohort of HIV-infected patients and was not associated with elevated transaminase levels or with symptomatic liver disease.

In the Connecticut correctional system, success rates for HCV treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin were high, but fewer than 1 in 1000 presumably HCV-infected inmates were actually tested and treated.

In a retrospective analysis, abacavir use was associated with an increased rate of HCV treatment failure when ribavirin exposure was low.

After failing to respond to a standard HBV vaccine series, 144 HIV-infected patients were revaccinated on an accelerated schedule with a higher dose; half developed an adequate antibody response.

Retrospective analyses in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients did not demonstrate a link between baseline CD4-cell count and HCV treatment response, but the total number of patients with low CD4-cell counts was too small to make this conclusion definitively.