Hepatitis and HIV

Today is National HIV Testing Day, which provides a good opportunity to learn two important things: your HIV status and how HIV is a serious complication for those with hepatitis.

An estimated quarter million people in the United States don't know they have HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS. From this, it's reasonable to assume that millions more can't, with complete assurance, state their HIV status. This is an important problem all on its own, but it's very bad for people with hepatitis or people who are at risk for hepatitis infection. For example, infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is more serious in persons with HIV infection. It's also true that HCV infection interferes with HIV treatment. Because of this, it's important for people to know of their HIV status so they can take advantage of all the treatment options possible. Here's a great place to find an HIV testing location.

The risk factors are similar for HIV and HCV. For both, injecting drugs are common ways of infection. To a much lesser extent, it is also possible to spread hepatitis C sexually, but this is more likely with HIV. For more information about HIV, start with the HIV/AIDS site.