HIV and hepatitis coinfections
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are bloodborne viruses transmitted primarily through sexual contact and injection drug use. Because of these shared modes of transmission, people at risk for HIV infection are also at risk for HBV infection. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a bloodborne virus transmitted through direct contact with the blood of an infected person. It is estimated that HCV affects 2–15% of people living with HIV worldwide (and up to 90% of those are people who inject drugs (PWID)) and that chronic HBV infection affects an estimated 5–20% of people living with HIV. The global estimate of burden of HIV-HCV co-infection is 2.75 million of whom 1.3 million are PWID, and for HBV-HCV coinfection of 2.6 million. The burden of these co-infections are greatest in the African and South East Asia Regions.