Hep C and Hiv

Friends,
Can you help me ?

1-I heard that hep c is not transmitted through vaginal sex. How about anal sex?
2-If coinfection occurs, would a 13 weeks hiv antibody test be accurate and conclusive to detect hiv?
3-There is a doctor at the body.com and she claims coinfection is the reason of late seroconversion. Is that true?
thanks.

[Tiredofworry]

I share your fears as well.  Unfortunately I can't give you any definete answers but I will try to give you the information that I found.

1.  Hep. C is normally not transmitted through vaginal sex or anal sex.  The risk occurs if there is bleeding as a result of sex.  I imagine that bleeding would be more likely to occur during anal sex, but I don't really  have any experience on the anal sex department.  

2.  If co-infection occurs I am not sure if it would be accurate and conclusive on a 13 week antibody test.  Many say it would be (I was tested at 6 months past exposure and am still paranoid), but I am not sure.  

3.  And this answer kind of hangs in with answer number 2......

There is a case study done on 3 HCW's who had late seroconversion as a result of being stuck by infected needles contaminated with HIV and HCV.  I have read over these studies but I can't figure out if these HCW's received PEP or not.  

The reason it is important to discuss PEP here is that PEP can also result in late sero-conversion, so whether or not these HCW's had late seroconversions because of HCW or PEP or a combination of the two is hard for me to state.

.................................................................................................................................................

This co-infection thing has plagued me as well.  I have tried to find an answer that I find satisfactory, but it just does not seem that much studies have been done on this.  What I would like to find is a study that shows of other people who where co-infected at the same time and did NOT have a delayed seroconversion.

I hope this info helps you somewhat

[Teak]

1. yes you can contract HCV sexually even if it doesn't happen that often.
2. You will need to test for both HIV and HCV at 13 weeks. HCV does not delay the seroconversion either way.

[panic_attack_hiv]

What is the window period of HCV?

[Tiredofworry]

Hi Teak,

I am not trying to challenge you in anyway, but how can you be absolutely sure that Hepatitis would not cause late sero-conversion.  I would believe you 100% as it where not to the case study I read, as it is that darned case-study that gives me doubts.

Are you aware of any other studies that point out that HCV would not cause delayed sero-conversion?  I would be interested in taking a look at them (and it would be an awesome Christmas present!  (o:

Speaking of Christmas I hope you are having a good one!

[Tiredofworry]

I believe the window period of HCV is 6 months

[panic_attack_hiv]

3 m or 6 m...for hep c?
Confused!

[Teak]

Tomorrow, contact any STD clinic or any Nephrologist and ask them if HCV will delay HIV seroconversion. The only thing that complicates coinfection of the two is treatment. Some times HAART medications have to be stopped to treat HCV.

[Tiredofworry]

It is recommended that an individual waits 3-6 months after their possible hepatitis C exposure before getting tested. This is referred to as the "window period".   In some people it will show in as little as 6 weeks.  HCV is just short for Hepatitis C Virus.

[Tiredofworry]

Thanks Teak, I will look into it some more.  I will have to look up the word Nephrologist in the language of the country in which I live.  (I live in a non-english speaking country).  The incidence of HIV is not that high where I live (I think there are only thirty cases in my district alone) but hopefully the Nephrologist will be well informed.  

Again Merry Christmas!!

[Teak]

You don't have to wait longer than 3 months. Persons with HIV have blood work done every three months and your ID specialist will know by the elevation of your liver enzyme tests if you are possibly infected with HCV. Of course that is if they know that you have had a possible exposure. That is the reason for repeated questioning before ever ID doctor visits. You are drilled about your sexual habits and your drug use each and every time. If you have an increase in your liver enzymes and you have had a possible risk they do several more tests on you to check for HCV infection than you would normally get if you just went in for HCV testing. I believe there are a total of 3 tests that are ran for the liver testing, not counting if they do the scans.  

[troggs]

This person already has hiv?