Prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection in alcoholics

• Main Authors: Luiz Carlos Marques de Oliveira, Rômulo Gustavo Pereira, Ureliano Cintra Reis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2001-01-01
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: human immunodeficiency virus; alcoholism; hepatitis B virus; hepatitis C virus
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762001000100003
• ISSN: 0074-0276; 1678-8060

To verify the prevalence of infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in alcoholics we studied 131 alcoholic patients (119 males and 12 females) with a mean age of 44.3 ± 10.8 years. Serum samples were collected from this group and analysed, by ELISA, for antibodies against HIV as well as for serological markers for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). As we have previously described, we found a high prevalence of HBV (26.4%) and HCV (4.2%) markers as compared to the prevalence of these markers in samples of normal blood donors from Uberlândia's Hemocentro Regional, which are 4% and 0.4%, respectively. Of the 131 patients, four (3%) had antibodies against HIV, three (75%) of which were injecting drug users (IDU). In the HIV-negative group, only one patient was an IDU. The prevalence of HIV in our population, according to data from the city's Health Secretary, varies from 3.1% to 6.2%. We conclude that, at least for the moment, alcoholism per se, did not constitute an important risk factor for HIV infection. However, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a rather recent disease as compared to hepatitis B and C and, as the transmission routes are similar for HIV and hepatitis viruses, an increase in the incidence of HIV infection in alcoholics may be just a question of time.