studies

HEPATOLOGY, VOLUME 62, NUMBER 1 (SUPPL) AASLD ABSTRACTS 1113A
1852
HCV in Semen of HIV-infected Men During Acute and
Chronic Infection
Samuel Turner 1,4 , Marcus Yip 1,5 , Wouter van Seggelen 1,6 , Davey
M. Smith 2,3 , Sara Gianella 2 , Daniel S. Fierer 1 ; 1 Infectious Diseases,
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY; 2 Infectious
Diseases, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA;
3 Infectious Diseases, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Diego,
CA; 4 James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia; 5 Monash University,
Melbourne, VIC, Australia; 6 Amsterdam Medical Center,
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Introduction It remains unclear how hepatitis C virus (HCV) is
transmitted in the epidemic of sexually transmitted HCV among
HIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSM). Our previous
epidemiological study in New York City strongly implicated
semen, and seminal HCV has been detected intermittently and
at low levels during chronic HCV, but little is known about
seminal HCV during acute HCV infection. Methods HIV-infected
MSM with acute and chronic HCV infection were prospectively
enrolled. Three paired semen and blood specimens
were collected at 2-week intervals. For men with acute HCV,
all specimens were collected within 6 months of detection of
new HCV infection. HCV viral load (VL) was quantified using
qRT-PCR platforms (Abbott m2000 with lower limit of quantification
[LLOQ] 12 IU/mL for seminal plasma, and Roche
COBAS AMPLICOR with LLOQ 43 IU/mL for blood). Results
Paired semen and blood specimens were obtained from 33
HIV-infected MSM (21 acute, 12 chronic HCV). Overall, seminal
HCV was detected in 16 (27%) of 59 specimens from
11 (33%) men (Table). Comparing men with acute or chronic
HCV, there were no differences in either the proportion of
semen specimens with HCV detected (21% vs 38%, respectively;
p=0.159), or in the median seminal HCV VL (1.32 vs
1.77 log 10
IU/mL, respectively; p=0.163). Median blood HCV
VL was higher among men with detectable compared to not
detectable seminal HCV (6.36 vs 5.47 log 10
IU/mL, respectively;
p=0.002). Among men with low serum VL (