Research brief: Risk of hepatitis C reinfection is low

Patients who have been cleared of hepatitis C infection are less likely to contract the virus again than others, even if they are exposed to the same risks, Canadian study findings have shown. Researchers compared the medical history of 926 patients who tested negative for hepatitis C and 506 who tested positive. They found that those who had previously recovered from a hepatitis C infection were four times less likely to become reinfected than others, even though they had higher HIV rates and were more likely to be intravenous drug users (Hepatology 2006;44: 1,139–45).