Home » What is Hep C?

Co-infection with HIV

|  Print Page  |  Font Size + -

An increasing number of people with Hep C also have HIV. Here is a brief introduction to HIV. For more information on HIV visit www.catie.ca.

What is HIV?

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is a virus that attacks a person’s immune system and causes AIDS. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

An increasing number of people with Hep C also have HIV. Here is a brief introduction to HIV. For more information on HIV visit www.catie.ca.

What is HIV?

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is a virus that attacks a person's immune system and causes AIDS. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

What HIV does

HIV attacks and weakens your immune system. Your immune system helps your body by fighting off germs, like viruses and bacteria. When the immune system is weakened, it is easier for germs to attack the body and make you sick. When your immune system isn't working as well, you can get sick from specific illnesses your body used to be able to fight off. Generally, if you have HIV and you get sick with one of these diseases you are considered to have AIDS.

HIV is a virus that attacks a person's immune system and causes AIDS.

When you have HIV, it's important to have regular checkups with a doctor, so he or she can measure how much HIV is in your body and see how your immune system is doing. That way you and your doctor can decide when is the best time to start treatment so that you stay healthy.

How do you get HIV?

HIV is carried in four body fluids: blood, semen, vaginal fluids, and breast milk. You can get HIV when these fluids get into your body. This usually happens in the following ways:

  • through unprotected sex
  • by reusing drug use equipment already used by someone else
  • mother-to-child transmission during childbirth or breastfeeding, if the mother has HIV
  • from a blood transfusion before 1985

HIV enters the body in many of the same ways as Hep C, so you can take the same steps to protect yourself from both Hep C and HIV. (See Staying Safe for more information.)

HIV Treatment

There is no cure for HIV, but there are medicines that fight HIV. These medicines can keep the virus from weakening your immune system and can keep you healthy for a very long time. If you have HIV, talk to a doctor or healthcare worker to find out more about HIV treatment. CATIE's website (www.catie.ca) also has more information on HIV and HIV treatment.

If you have both…

About 10,000 Canadians who have Hep C also have HIV. This is called co-infection (which means having two or more infections at the same time). You may be co-infected and not know it because both viruses can silently cause harm before symptoms develop. The only way to know is by getting an HIV test and a Hep C test.

HIV and the Hep C virus have similarities and differences. The table below shows what these are:

Comparing Hep C & HIV

 

Hep C

HIV 

Transmission

Through contact with infected blood.

Through contact with infected blood, semen, vaginal fluids or breast milk.

How most people get it in Canada

Reusing drug-use equipment already used by someone else, particularly equipment for injection drug use.

Unprotected sex.
Reusing drug-use equipment already used by someone else.

Testing

Antibody test looks for exposure.
RNA test looks for infection.

Positive antibody test shows infection.

Treatment goal

Treatment is available and may clear the virus from the body.

Treatment is available to keep the virus under control.

How long it takes to treat 

Hep C treatment takes six months to a year depending on the Hep C strain you have.

Once it is started, HIV treatment is life-long.

How long it survives outside the body

Hep C can survive for four days (and possibly up to two weeks) outside the body.

HIV dies within minutes in open air outside the body.

Risk of re-infection

There is no immunity to Hep C. You can be re-infected even if you already cleared the virus.

You have HIV for life but can sometimes be infected with a strain that does not respond to treatment.

Vaccine

There is currently no vaccine available for Hep C.

There is currently no vaccine available for HIV.

In Canada, there are more people with Hep C than there are with HIV and this is also true in the rest of the world. In Ontario 110,000 people have Hep C and 26,000 have HIV. Hep C is easier to catch than HIV and one of the reasons is that the Hep C virus can survive longer outside the body than HIV does.

Having HIV and Hep C is a serious situation because it means the chances of developing liver disease are higher. It also makes decisions about treatment for both infections more complicated.

As shown in the table above, if you have either HIV or Hep C, you are at risk for the other, as both can enter the body the same way. HIV and Hep C are both blood-borne diseases, which means that they can be transmitted by blood-to-blood contact. You are also at risk for other infections, like hepatitis B, or for getting infected with a different strain of Hep C. You need to take care not to share materials contaminated with blood. (See Staying Safe for more information.)

Related content