ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: To study the association, clinical significance, and impact of hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection in patients with schistosomal liver disease (SLD). METHODS: A total of 240 patients with chronic liver diseases encountered consecutively were enrolled in the study. Fifty volunteer blood donors were enrolled as controls. HCV antibody determination (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), qualitative and quantitative HCV RNA assay (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction), and HCV genotyping (line probe assay) were performed. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients had SLD alone, 60 had both SLD and chronic hepatitis C (CH-C), 120 had CH-C alone, and 32 had other liver diseases. The positivity rates for HCV antibody (76% vs 20%; P < 0.001) and HCV RNA (59% vs 10%; P < 0.001) were significantly higher in the patients with SLD (n = 88) than in the volunteer blood donors (n = 50). Complications of liver cirrhosis were more common in patients with concomitant SLD and CH-C than in those with either SLD or CH-C alone. The mean levels of alanine aminotransferase (77 +/- 42 vs 93 +/- 55 IU/l; P = 0.049) and HCV RNA concentrations (3.5 +/- 1.0 vs 4.2 +/- 1.0 log copy/ml; P < 0.001) were significantly lower in patients with concomitant SLD and CH-C than in those with CH-C alone. HCV genotype 4 predominated in both these groups (93% and 98%). CONCLUSIONS: SLD in Egypt is significantly associated with HCV infection, with the predominance of genotype 4. Concurrent HCV infection and SLD result in much more severe liver disease than that seen with either disease alone. However, the activity of HCV infection seems to be partially suppressed in patients with SLD.
