TY - JOUR
T1 - Low Hepatitis C Virus Prevalence among Men Who Have Sex with Men Attending Public Health Services in The Netherlands
AU - Popping, Stephanie
AU - Haspels, Sabine
AU - Gotz, Hannelore M.
AU - van der Meijden, W. C. J. P. M.
AU - van den Elshout, Mark
AU - Rijnders, Bart J.
N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by a research grant from Gilead sciences (NoCo grant IN-NL-987-4652) to B.J.R. The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/12/1
Y1 - 2023/12/1
N2 - The hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence is high among men who have sex with men (MSM) with HIV in the Netherlands. Large reductions in HCV incidence among MSM with HIV, however, have occurred since treatment with direct-acting antivirals. Over the years, a broader understanding of the HCV epidemic has shown that HCV infections are not solely restricted to MSM with HIV, but they also occur among HIV-negative MSM. Currently, HCV testing among HIV-negative MSM is only provided for PrEP users and is not part of routine sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening among HIV-negative MSM who are not using PrEP. In this study, we screened 1885 HIV-negative MSM who did not participate in a PrEP program, with over 1966 STI screening visits at four different public health clinic sites. Among the 1885 MSM, only one person had a new HCV infection, resulting in a 0.05% (95% confidence interval 0.0–0.3) incidence. Based on our findings, we can conclude that systematic HCV testing at STI clinics may not yield significant benefits for this particular population.
AB - The hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence is high among men who have sex with men (MSM) with HIV in the Netherlands. Large reductions in HCV incidence among MSM with HIV, however, have occurred since treatment with direct-acting antivirals. Over the years, a broader understanding of the HCV epidemic has shown that HCV infections are not solely restricted to MSM with HIV, but they also occur among HIV-negative MSM. Currently, HCV testing among HIV-negative MSM is only provided for PrEP users and is not part of routine sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening among HIV-negative MSM who are not using PrEP. In this study, we screened 1885 HIV-negative MSM who did not participate in a PrEP program, with over 1966 STI screening visits at four different public health clinic sites. Among the 1885 MSM, only one person had a new HCV infection, resulting in a 0.05% (95% confidence interval 0.0–0.3) incidence. Based on our findings, we can conclude that systematic HCV testing at STI clinics may not yield significant benefits for this particular population.
KW - MSM
KW - hepatitis C
KW - hepatitis C elimination
KW - micro-elimination
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85180524693&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.3390/v15122317
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/v15122317
M3 - Article
C2 - 38140558
SN - 1999-4915
VL - 15
JO - Viruses
JF - Viruses
IS - 12
M1 - 2317
ER -