The Relationship of the Nucleic Acid and Antibody of HIV/HCV Among Drug Users

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between the nucleic acid and antibody of HIV/HCV in a high-risk population. Plasma samples (320) were collected from drug users in Xinjiang and the nucleic acid and antibody of HIV/HCV were detected. A total of 38% of the subjects were positive for both HIV and HCV. The positive rate of HIV antibody was 41. 9%, and the relative coincident rate of HIV RNA and antibody was 98. 9%. HIV RNA was detected in 2 cases out of 186 HIV antibody negative cases. The positive rate of HCV antibody was 80. 3% , and the positive accordant rate of HCV RNA and antibody is 92. 6%, the general accordant rate of those is 90. 0%. These results indicated that HIV/HCV infection during the so-called window period can be found by the nucleic acid assay in high-risk areas, however, 8% of HCV antibody positive cases with negative HCV RNA requires further investigations.