Heterosexual activity as a risk factor for the transmission of hepatitis C virus

✍ Scribed by Takeshi Utsumi; Etsuo Hashimoto; Yusuke Okumura; Makiko Takayanagi; Hiroaki Nishikawa; Mika Kigawa; Nobuhiro Kumakura; Hiroyuki Toyokawa

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 353 KB
• Volume: 46
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.1890460207

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), the major causative agent of non‐A, non‐B hepatitis, is transmitted by parenteral exposure. Transmission by sexual activity, however, is controversial. Possible behavioral risk factors for HCV infection were studied retrospectively among imprisoned men (n = 201, mean age: 45 years [S.D. 13]) who visited a health service center at a Japanese correctional facility for medical examination. Seropositivity of anti‐HCV antibody was disproportionately high (49.8%) in comparison with volunteer blood donors. Among possible risk factors significant on univariate analysis, intravenous drug abuse and Tama‐Ire, a Japanese custom of sexual behavior that suggests frequent, aggressive or promiscuous heterosexual activity, proved to be independent risk factors for HCV infection (odds ratio = 7.39, 95% CI = 3.41 ‐ 16.05, P< 0.0001; odds ratio = 3.16, 95% CI = 1.16 ‐ 8.64, P = 0.026, respectively) as shown by logistic regression analysis. The data suggest that HCV may be transmitted by sexual activity. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.