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Although hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can be acquired sexually, transmission rates are so low that quantifying them precisely has been difficult. Researchers evaluated partners of 500 monogamous heterosexual HCV-positive patients to determine frequency and correlates of transmission.
Most index patients were men (61%) and white (73%), and most reported histories of drug injection (54%) or blood transfusion before 1992 (32%). None were coinfected with HIV or hepatitis B virus. Twelve partners (2%) had histories of drug injection. Median duration of sexual relationships between partners was 15 years.
Overall, 20 of 500 partners (4%) had HCV antibodies, with circulating HCV RNA in 13. Genotyping and serotyping identified strain concordance …