Hamadan University of Medical Sciences Avicenna Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infection 2383-0298 4 3 2017 08 01 Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in the HIV- Infected Patients by Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin in Tehran, Iran 43623 43623 10.5812/ajcmi.43623 EN Ali Pashaei Zanjani Negin Esmaeilpour Mehrnaz Rasoolinejad Pardis Moradnejad Mojtaba Hedayat Yaghoobi Journal Article 10.5812/ajcmi.43623 2016 11 04 2017 04 16 Background and Objectives: Considering reductions in AIDS-related mortalities following effective anti-retroviral treatments in HIV/AIDS patients, HCV-associated liver diseases have turned into a major concern for HIV/HCV co-infected patients. The present study aims at determining SVR rates in HIV/HCV co-infected patients under pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment referring to Tehran Imam Khomeini hospital during 2010 - 2013. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, all HIV/HCV co-infected patients under pegilated interferon and ribavirin treatment referring to Tehran Imam Khomeini Hospital during 2010 - 2013 entered the study. The variables include demographic information, genotype, liver involvement stage in biopsy, viral load levels prior to treatment, 4th, 12th, and 48th week as well as 6 months after treatment (sustained virologic response (SVR)), and CD4 count every 3 months. Results: In the total of 28 male HIV/HCV co-infected patients of this study, 21.4% and 78.6% received peg IFN alfa- 2b, and pegIFN alfa2a, respectively. There were 17 genotype I (61%), 9 (32%) genotype III, and 2 (7%) genotype II among the patients. The overall SVR rate of the patients was 67.8%; it was 52.9% in genotype I and 72.7% in genotypes II and III. Despite the CD4 count decline during treatment, opportunistic infections were not observed in any of the patients. Conclusions: SVR rates in this study are higher than studies conducted in other countries and this implies the possibility of a more favorable genetic trait in Iranian HCV patients responding to pegIFN and ribavirin. That is still the proper regimen due to high price of free interferon regimens in Iran.