Hepatitis C reinfection after successful treatment

Key take-home messages

• HCV reinfection rates vary widely. Reinfection depends on the extent to which an individual engages in high risk activities after having achieved sustained virologic response through treatment.
• The risk of HCV reinfection among patients who do not engage in higher-risk activities appears to be negligible.
• Some studies suggest that the risk of HCV reinfection among people who inject drugs is low but the quality of this evidence has been assessed as very low. Conversely, a recent systematic review and meta-analysis estimated that, among patients that engage in “high-risk” behaviour (e.g. people who inject drugs), the likelihood of being reinfected over a five-year period was 11%.
• The risk of HCV reinfection through sexual contact among men who have sex with men appears to be high.
• The risk of HCV reinfection among HIV co-infected patients is high.

• Epidemiology and Determinants of Health
  • Epidemiology
• Population(s)
  • People who use drugs
  • General HIV+ population
  • General HIV- population
• Co-infections
  • Hepatitis B, C