Author Interviews, Hepatitis - Liver Disease, HIV / 11.10.2014
Hepatitis C May Be Spread Through Semen, Especially in HIV+ Men
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Daniel Bradshaw
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Bradshaw: Over 40% of men with hepatitis C (HCV) infection have HCV RNA in their semen, although the level of RNA was much lower than blood (usually 4 log less than blood).
Neither HIV nor acute hepatitis C led to increased shedding of HCV RNA in semen. Interestingly, however, in acute HCV, HIV-positive men with higher blood levels of HCV RNA were more likely to shed RNA in their semen.
Research.com Interview with
Jagpreet Chhatwal, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Services Research
Houston, TX 77098
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Chhatwal: The recent updates in hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening policy and ongoing therapeutic advances can make hepatitis C a rare disease in the US by 2036. However, more aggressive screening strategies are needed to further reduce the burden of disease. For example, 1-time universal screening further identify 487,000 chronic