ArticlePloS one2015
Co-Infection Burden of Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus among Injecting Heroin Users at the Kenyan Coast.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative Impact of Active Versus Passive Surveillance on Hepatitis C Virus Testing Uptake, Diagnosis and Linkage to Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2026Pooled it
- Prevalence and epidemiological distribution of substance use among people living with HIV in the East African region: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- The Prevalence and Genotype Distribution of Hepatitis C Virus in Kenya: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2024Pooled it
- Hepatitis B status and associated factors among participants screened for simulated HIV vaccine efficacy trials in Kenya and Uganda.PloS one · 2023Trial
- The burden of unlawful use of opioid and associated epidemiological characteristics in Africa: A scoping review.PloS one · 2025Article
- An intensive model of care for hepatitis C virus screening and treatment with direct-acting antivirals in people who inject drugs in Nairobi, Kenya: a model-based cost-effectiveness analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Article
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Global Prevalence of HBsAg and HIV and HCV Antibodies among People Who Inject Drugs and Female Sex Workers.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- Prevalence, estimated incidence, risk behaviours, and genotypic distribution of hepatitis C virus among people who inject drugs accessing harm-reduction services in Kenya: a retrospective cohort study.The Lancet. Infectious diseases · 2019Article
- The Opioid Epidemic in Africa And Its Impact.Current addiction reports · 2018Article
- Human immunodeficiency virus infection predictors and genetic diversity of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus co-infections among drug users in three major Kenyan cities.Southern African journal of HIV medicine · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInjection drug use is steadily rising in Kenya. We assessed the prevalence of both human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections among injecting heroin users (IHUs) at the Kenyan Coast.
methodsA total of 186 IHUs (mean age, 33 years) from the Omari rehabilitation center program in Malindi were consented and screened for HIV-1 and HCV by serology and PCR and their CD4 T-cells enumerated by FACS.
resultsPrevalence of HIV-1 was 87.5%, that of HCV was 16.4%, co-infection was 17.9% and 18/152 (11.8%) were uninfected. Only 5.26% of the HIV-1 negative injectors were HCV positive. Co-infection was higher among injectors aged 30 to 40 years (20.7%) and among males (22.1%) than comparable groups. About 35% of the injectors were receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART). Co-infection was highest among injectors receiving D4T (75%) compared to those receiving AZT (21.6%) or TDF (10.5%) or those not on ART (10.5%). Mean CD4 T-cells were 404 (95% CI, 365 - 443) cells/mm3 overall, significantly lower for co-infected (mean, 146; 95% CI 114 - 179 cells/mm3) than HIV mono infected (mean, 437, 95% CI 386 - 487 cells/mm3, p<0.001) or uninfected (mean, 618, 95% CI 549 - 687 cells/mm3, p<0.001) injectors and lower for HIV mono-infected than uninfected injectors (p=0.002). By treatment arm, CD4 T-cells were lower for injectors receiving D4T (mean, 78; 95% CI, 0.4 - 156 cells/mm3) than TDF (mean 607, 95% CI, 196 - 1018 cells/mm3, p=0.005) or AZT (mean 474, 95% CI -377 - 571 cells/mm3, p=0.004).
conclusionMono and dual infections with HIV-1 and HCV is high among IHUs in Malindi, but ART coverage is low. The co-infected IHUs have elevated risk of immunodeficiency due to significantly depressed CD4 T-cell numbers. Coinfection screening, treatment-as-prevention for both HIV and HCV and harm reduction should be scaled up to alleviate infection burden.
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