Q and A

Question

What is life expectancy with coinfection with HIV and chronic hepatitis B?

How long a person can live if he has had both HIV (for about 18 months) and chronic hepatitis B (for 3 years) if he recently started ART (15 days ago).

Answer

Hi

Some of the studies looking at HIV and life expectancy also look at other factors including coinfection with hepatitis B and C.

While any additional health complication is likely to also have an impact on life expectancy, in these studies, as with HIV, the long term complications mainly relate to people who were not being treated for many years.

As both HIV and hepatitis B are both largely treatable infections, there are lots of reasons to be optimistic.

Two of the drugs in your HIV combination should also be treating your hepatitis B. These are tenofovir and FTC (emtricitabine) and if this is not the case please speak to your doctor about this.

Now you are on treatment you need to make sure that you take them as recommended. Adherence (taking your meds on time) is an essential part of getting a good response from treatment.

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