Hepatitis C virus infection in homosexual men: a seroepidemiological study in gay clubs in north-east Italy

Seroprevalence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HIV antibodies was studied in a group of 259 apparently healthy homosexual men of the Veneto Region (Italy). Subjects were recruited between 1987 and 1989 from homosexual men's clubs. Seropositivity was evaluated in relation to main risk factors associated with the lifestyle and sexual behaviours of this population. Serological evaluation revealed an overall prevalence of HCV infection of 18.9% in the study population as a whole, but on breaking the samples down into three subgroups according to optical density (O.D.) values and to the year of sera collection, different seroprevalences were observed. Prevalence of anti-HCV was higher in 1987 and steadily decreased in 1988 and 1989; 4.1% of subjects gave positive results at O.D. greater than 2.0, while 6.2% were positive at O.D. between 0.8 and 2.0 and 9.6% at O.D. between cut-off and 0.8. Anti-HCV positivity was not correlated with HIV nor HBV positivity. No correlation was found between HCV seropositivity and either the type of anogenital intercourse or sexual promiscuity, but the prevalence increased (p = n.s.), as observed for HIV (p less than 0.05) and HBV (p = n.s.), with the number of intercourses per month. Epidemiological and preventive aspects arising from the investigation are discussed herein