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These two menacing viruses have several things in common that make their presence in the body at the same time (commonly called “co-infection”) very likely. Their mode of transmission, i.e. the way they are transmitted, via contact of the blood of a healthy person with that of contaminated blood is the same for both the Hec C virus and the HIV virus.
According to the CDC, the incidence of co-infection is relatively high. In the USA almost 1 out of 4 people infected with HIV virus is also infected with Hepatitis C virus, and the numbers increase dramatically if the infected person is involved with illicit injected drugs.
The coexistence of the HIV and Hepatitis C virus in a person makes treatment of both viruses much more difficult since the HIV virus seriously affects the capacity of the body’s immune system to defend itself against any infection, especially the co-infection with the Hepatitis C virus.
Although today it is possible to treat both diseases, the difficulty of the treatment does increase, and the possibility of experiencing more severe side effects increases also.
