New hepatitis C infections among HIV-positive gay men drop by half after direct-acting antiviral roll-out in Netherlands A little more than a year after the Netherlands instituted a policy allowing unrestricted access to direct-acting antivirals for the treatment of hepatitis C, researchers have already seen a dramatic decline in acute hepatitis C virus infections among one at-risk population, HIV-positive men who have sex with men. These findings were reported on Thursday at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle, in a session that also included presentations on rising incidence of HCV infection among HIV-positive gay men in San Diego and predictions about eradication of HIV/HCV co-infection in France.