Why there are more HCV positive people Than HIV positive? ?

[Scaredtodeath777]

Hepatitis C is rarely transmitted By Sexual activities Than Why is the number of hepatitis C positive people a lot higher than the number  HIV positive people?? ?

I know it's not the palace to ask this answer. ..
But I couldn't find the answer. .
If anyone knows please guide me..

[AWorriedMom]

HCV spreads more easily than HIV through contact with infected blood. It is much more common in IV drug users than is HIV although no one can account for this yet.

Sorry I don't have a better answer for you. Epidemiologists are doing some studies to try and figure this out.

[dontworry_behappy1]

Because HIV is transmitted by sex and over years people have been practicing safe sex and knowledgeable about the transmission.  There is still many people walking around out there who don't know they have Hepatitis C.
In the past you didn't get tested for Hepatitis C.   Now it's recommended to baby boomers when visiting a doctor.   Hepatitis C is a silent diesease.   More often than not people don't know they have Hepatitis C for many years.  HIV does start showing symptoms much faster than Hepatitis C.  It wasn't until 1992 that screening begin for hepatitis C in our blood supply.  There has been screening for HIV for some time.  

[AWorriedMom]

There is also some concern in the hepatitis C community that people are not being as careful as they should protecting themselves because the newer meds are so successful. So the fear level about hep C has dropped a bit.

[Serg67]

HIV was appeared relatively recently, in 20th century. But HCV, according to some studies, was appeared many centuries ago.

[Serg67]

Majority of HIV-infected people without treatment would die from AIDS in relatively short time interval (5-10 years). But only minority of HCV-infected people (probably, 20%) would die without theatment from HCV-related complications during their lifetime. Thus, HCV-infected people may remain infective during decades of all their lifetime.

[AWorriedMom]

Excellent point Serge.

[dontworry_behappy1]

HIV-infected people are living lots longer and not dying from AIDS in a relatively short time.  There are now very good treatments that prolong their lives for decades.

But it really depends where you live in the world when it comes to Hepatitis C and HIV.   My reference is to the United States.  If you want to see some really results of HIV then take a look at the 35 million people infected with HIV in Africa.   That since the mid 80s over 75 million people have been infected with HIV.   It clearly has to do with exposure and the customs of the culture.   HIV is transmitted through breast milk which has
increased the HIV population in Africa due to the culture its hard to control.
Then there is Egypt who has a 40 percent population with Hepatitis C.  

Really depends on where you live, practices, customs, cultures and sterilization practices in healthcare and personal uses.  

[AWorriedMom]

"On 30 November 2009, WHO released new recommendations on infant feeding by HIV-positive mothers, based on this new evidence. For the first time, WHO is recommending that HIV-positive mothers or their infants take antiretroviral drugs throughout the period of breastfeeding and until the infant is 12 months old. This means that the child can benefit from breastfeeding with very little risk of becoming infected with HIV."

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/88/1/10-030110/en/

There is no simple answer to the breast feeding question anywhere in the world.

[Serg67]

>HIV-infected people are living lots longer and not dying from AIDS in a relatively short time.

Yes, if they have access to modern treatment. Without treatment (for example in previous years, before invention of anti-retroviral therapy)  their prognosis was poor for almost all patients.

[Frank J. Perrotta]

"There is also some concern in the hepatitis C community that people are not being as careful as they should protecting themselves because the newer meds are so successful. So the fear level about hep C has dropped a bit."

There is a LOT of this going on in, not only the gay, but also other communities around the globe such as the Asian i.e. Japanese males who only believe that it is a gay disease & go on business trips to other parts of Asia (condom usage is not common) and bring back all sorts of things, including HIV to the wife (and he usually has a girlfriend on the side)...  I lived in Tokyo for nearly a decade from the mid 80s.

All of these male dominated societies are unbelievably ‘male dominated’! We in the west talk about how unfair it is in the workplace etc but actually, even though these countries are Democratic with women in political positions, police often times won't even take rape reports. Look at India! But the same thing happens in Japan. The Japanese are just much more quiet about things.

I think it was last year that Anderson Cooper did a piece on CNN about some really crazy stuff going on in the gay community. The HIV meds are keeping people alive and healthy so now young people actually want to be infected as they feel "left out" or something!?! If anyone understands the 18 - 21+ youth they you are a very special person.

Other groups in the gay community are even more complicated - the machismo groups...

I think the HIV numbers are rising in the USA.

[AWorriedMom]

Thanks for your comments on this subject. I have learned a lot from you. I have heard the numbers of HIV patients are rising as well.

How lucky you got to live in Tokyo for 10 years. Did your job take you there?

[patra_]

I think we must mention that HIV was 'diagnosed' before Hep C was finally diagnosed as an entity of its own, not just nonA-nonB.

There were drugs available to treat HIV before Hep C even had an individual name, or, a method for testing blood, I believe.

Third, and this is a big one, they organized, in some fashion, had celebrities who were diagnosed, and worked hard at getting the word out that people should get tested and that there was treatment.  I don't think the tx was as good in the beginning, but then look at how far Hep C tx has come since finally getting name, with diagnoses available and INF was the only tx.

Just IMHO, here.

[JimmyMose]

In the 1980's it was estimated that about 230,000 people were infected with HCV yearly.  From 2001 to 2011 the the estimate was 17,000 yearly. Total estimate are around 3+ million have HCV.  75% were born between 1945 and 1965. Estimates range as high a 5.2 Million that have HCV pos. antibodies

http://www.hepatitisc.uw.edu/pdf/screening-diagnosis/epidemiology-us/core-concept/all

1.2 Million are infected with HIV in the US New infections are estimated around 50,000 2012 stable for the recent prior years. Male Sex Male highest transmission  

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/basics/ataglance.html

That explains why there are more HCV pos than HCV pos.

My opinion and recollection for recent years since the above referenced ones.
MSM HCV HIV co-infection new infection rate is increasing for the past 3 years.
In the last couple of years new laws and enforcement have reduced the illicit supply of narcotic pain medications resulting in a huge increase in heron use.
HIV virus contaminated blood when exposed to air dies rapidly where as HCV can last for days.  IV users blood may come in contact with many contaminated surfaces.  Do quick needle cleaning methods work better for HIV than HCV? There has been a recent increase in both HCV and HIV IV transmission rate especially in the 16 to 20's age group.

[dontworry_behappy1]

Why are there more HCV positive people that HIV positive people?  

I don't know if any of you know or seem to care that many many many people died of AIDS before a treatment was found to prolong life.  There were men who had all their friends die.  AIDS killed many people.  It wasn't only in other countries where men married to women would have sex with men and bring it home to there wives.   That happened right here in America.  The AIDS wiped out whole communities of gay men.   Every gay man I know can tell you about the many friends who died of AIDS.  It was horrible.  

So, what changed that brought AIDS down to a crawl.   The fact that people were dying at an alarming rate.   AIDS changed the sexual revolution.   People stopped having casual sex without protection.   Otherwise, if you didn't want AIDS you became responsible and protected
yourself.   AIDS changed how we looked at casual sex.  Slowing down its
transmission.   FYI: AIDS sooner or later shows some pretty nasty signs
of infection.  Its not so easy to put your head in the sand like many people
infected with chronic Hepatitis C and if you don't see it....forget about it.  

[HopeInPA]

I think the reason is that HCV is more survivable outside the body than HIV and in most cases the virus was spread through tattoos and piercings which, coincidentally -?, became very popular in those years (this was before the parlors became regulated and hygiene was imposed on them, which happened mostly after the fact, when most damage was already done).

The other factor was certain vaccinations, like it was in Egypt (with highest HCV prevalence in the world thank to vaccinations against schistosoma), and similarly, we can't just dismiss out of hand the accounts of army (and school) vaccinations with air guns (-? is that how they were called?) in the 1970s. I believe these were the strongest factors for non-drug, heterosexual community.  

Still, there is a substantial segment of HCV patients who never had transfusions, tattoos or piercings, never injected drugs or were engaged in other risky activities.

[AWorriedMom]

Don't care? Wow.

[Frank J. Perrotta]

Yes, I was very lucky to live in Tokyo during the boom years.

How I got there is a story unto itself. I went from graduating at Pitt to living in Philly where it was a very scary summer! I witnessed the "MOVE" bombing - that was the last straw. A friend of a friend told me that I had a place to stay in Tokyo if I wanted and I was there in about 6 months. I decided any books I read about living in Tokyo would be silly so just went. The best description I got was from someone I met in NYC who had been there. He said "Tokyo is like Disneyland gone mad". So true.

I was very lucky to also have had the chance to live with a Japanese family during most of my time in Tokyo.  Oh, I was an English Conversation Teacher. It was a great job. I was able to travel a lot. Due to the early age that I moved there I nearly spent a third of my life in Tokyo. CRAZY! *the earthquakes were NO fun.

btw, look up the "MOVE" bombing if anyone is not aware of it. Six city blocks went up in flames due to the city bombing a home of black militant families.

[dontworry_behappy1]

I don't question if I care.  

[AWorriedMom]

What an incredible opportunity. So were you teaching English as a second language students? Sounds interesting.

I remember the MOVE tragedy like it was yesterday. It was in the 80's yes?