Hepatitis B Virus and Hepatitis C Virus Co-infection: An Evaluation of Eighty-Two Patients

Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the characteristics and treatment results of 82 co-infected patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV).\udMaterials and Methods: Four university hospitals evaluated HBV/HCV co-infection cases retrospectively. We analyzed the epidemiological, virological, clinical, and histopathological data and the results of treatment in patients co-infected with HBV and HCV. Pegylated interferon (peg IFN) plus ribavirin treatment was given to patients with HCV dominance. The results of patients receiving different treatment for HBV were evaluated.\udResults: The mean age of the patients was 44.3±14.7 years and 52.4% were female. The major risk factors were dental therapy, any surgical procedure, hemodialysis, and blood transfusion. The average HCV RNA level and HBV DNA level were found to be 1.36x106±3.06x106 IU/mL, and 1.55x107±4.83x107 IU/mL, respectively. On histopathology, the mean grade of necroinflammation was found to be 4.9±2.6 while the mean stage of fibrosis was 1.7±1.5 in 39 patients. 8.5% of patients were positive for both HCV-RNA and HBV-DNA positive and in 85.7% of cases, HCV infection was found to be dominant. The rate of sustained virologic response was 70.8% in 24 patients receiving peg IFN plus ribavirin therapy. Reactivation of HBV was found in 33.3% of cases. HBV DNA was negative in all patients who received oral antiviral therapy.\udConclusion: In cases where both HCV RNA and HBV DNA were positive, HCV was predominant. This is especially noticeable in hemodialysis patients