Hepatitis C infection rates continue to increase in Northern Europe in recent years among younger men who have HIV and have sex with men, with those more recently infected with HIV showing higher rates of HCV infection, according to a recently published article.

“No decline in HCV incidence was observed in recent years, although trends seem to differ by geographical region,” the researchers wrote. “HCV screening among HIV-positive MSM should be continued and routinely and frequently offered. Furthermore, targeted preventive measures should be implemented and/or scaled-up to decrease the risk of HCV acquisition.”

The researchers followed 7,864 men from 16 CASCADE Collaboration cohorts who contracted HIV through sex with men and who had at least one HCV test result (57% white; median age 34 years). Patients were evaluated using three different models. The researchers reported the median follow-up time for the first model (4 years; range, 1.7-7.2 years) and the second model (3.9 years; range, 2-6.3 years). Read more via Healio