To elucidate the importance of hepatitis C Virus (HCV) genotype in HIV disease progression.', 'This study was conducted among 126 HIV/HCV co-infected drug users with a known interval of HIV seroconversion whose HCV genotype was known early in HIV infection. Both clinical progression (to AIDS) and immunological progression (to a CD4+ T-cell count of 200 x 10(6) cells/l) by HCV genotype were studied using Cox proportional hazards analysis.', 'The median duration of follow-up was 7.3 years [interquartile range (IQR), 4.6-10.1 years]. The majority of the HCV infections concerned genotype 1 and genotype 3; The distribution was: HCV type 1: 48%, HCV type 3: 34%, HCV type 4: 13%, multiple HCV types: 5%. Concurrent multiple infections consisted of HCV genotypes 1b+3a, 1b+4 and 3a+4. HCV genotype 1 and multiple HCV genotype infections were associated with faster immunological progression [hazard ratio (HR), 2.02; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04-3.92 and HR, 2.74; 95% CI, 0.95-7.90, respectively]. Multiple HCV genotype infection was also associated with faster clinical progression (HR, 3.36; 95% CI, 0.82-13.79). These hazard ratios increased further and were all significant when analyses were limited to data in the pre-HAART era (HR, 3.92; 95% CI, 1.51-10.20; HR, 4.38; 95% CI, 1.04-18.40 and HR, 6.54; 95% CI, 1.39-30.76, respectively).
Is infection with concurrent multiple hepatitis C virus genotypes associated with faster HIV disease progression?