Low prevalence of hepatitis C virus antibodies in HIV-endemic area of Zimbabwe support sexual transmission as the major route of HIV transmission in Africa.

Abstract

Medical injections have recently been suggested to cause a large proportion of African HIV infections. If this hypothesis is true, high prevalences of other infections transmitted by injections should be expected. In a cohort of 145 HIV-negative and 124 HIV-positive individuals from a rural area of Zimbabwe with a high HIV prevalence we only found one with antibodies to hepatitis C virus. This does not support injections playing a major role in HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa.