Hepatitis C prevalence among men who have sex with men in Central Brazil

To assess the prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Central Brazil, a cross-sectional study was conducted in the City of Goiânia, Central Brazil, using Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS). All serum samples were tested for anti-HCV and also for alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Anti-HCV positive samples and/or those with elevated ALT were tested for HCV RNA and genotyped. Of the 522 participants, four were found to be anti-HCV positive, and one was also HCV RNA positive (active HCV infection). Elevated ALT was found in 14 individuals. Of these, one showed evidence of acute HCV infection (HCV RNA positive and anti-HCV negative). Therefore, five MSM were positive for either anti-HCV and/or HCV RNA, giving a crude overall HCV prevalence of 1.0%; 1.3% (95% CI: 0.3–5.5) after being weighted by RDSAT. All five individuals reported high-risk sexual behaviors, including two who showed evidence of active HCV infection (genotype 1, subtypes 1a and 1b). Although the study population reported high-risk sexual practices, HCV infection was not more frequent in MSM than in the general Brazilian population.