Researchers documented a small number of cases of sexually acquired hepatitis C virus infection among men who have sex with men, or MSM, taking pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, for HIV prevention. The cases underscore a need for HCV prevention efforts and enhanced HCV surveillance among MSM who use PrEP, they said.

“In the decade before the FDA approval of emtricitabine/tenofovir for PrEP in 2012, sexual acquisition of HCV infection was rare in HIV-uninfected MSM compared to HIV-infected men,” the researchers, from institutions in San Francisco and New York, wrote in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. “However, since the FDA approval and the increasing prescription of PrEP in our regions, we have now documented 15 sexually acquired HCV infections among 14 HIV-uninfected MSM after their initiation of PrEP.”

The report included 14 HIV-uninfected MSM using PrEP with suspected sexually acquired HCV infection who were referred to Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York or the University of California, San Francisco. Read more via Healiio