#CROI 2019

Researchers believe that hepatitis C is spreading through sex from the HIV-positive population to those who don’t have HIV.

Being diagnosed with liver cancer at a later stage of the disease was associated with a lower three-year survival rate.

A study of veterans also found, as other studies have, that treating the virus helps mitigate the risk of cardiovascular disease.

A European study of nearly 19,000 people with HIV also found that curing hep C was not associated with heart disease or non-AIDS cancer.

Nearly all those who have completed follow-up in an ongoing Italian study have been cured.

HIV-positive men who have sex with men in Western nations historically have a significant risk of contracting hepatitis C through sex.

In particular, having a high hep B viral load increases the risk of women with HIV transmitting the latter virus to their newborns.

Interestingly, the drugs themselves, not just the act of curing the virus, were tied to a lower diabetes risk in a recent large study.

HIV-positive people with a higher viral load over a longer period appear more likely to develop hepatocellular carcinoma.

All women who completed follow-up in a small trial were cured, and none of their infants contracted the virus.

This finding stresses the need to reduce the risk of sexual transmission of hep C among HIV-positive men who have sex with men.

This finding follows a recent study indicating that syphilis is on the rise among heterosexual people who inject drugs.