Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Due to shared routes of transmission, co-infection with the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) occurs in over 20% of the 70,000 Canadians living with HIV. In the last three years, highly effective, albeit costly, treatments to cure HCV have been administered to HCV-HIV co-infected patients. These medications significantly lower the risk of liver disease and increase life expectancies among Canadians living with HIV. However, following HCV cure, it is unclear how many people with HIV remain at-risk for reinfection as a result of continued injection drug use, high-risk sexual practices, or exposure at prisons or health-care facilities. The objective of this study was to examine rates and risk factors for HCV reinfection following successful treatment with these new and costly HCV medications in this population. The results from this study will be used to identify characteristics of those at greatest risk for reinfection and to provide health care professionals with information about how to incorporate targeted harm-reduction strategies following HCV treatment in specific populations to reduce the risk of reinfection following cure. Because of the expensive costs of HCV treatment and the large burden that HCV-related disease places on the Canadian health care system, it is important that patients cured from HCV remain risk-free from future infection.