In search of 20,000 untreated cases of hepatitis C

Scientific societies and patient associations have united in campaigns to identify the estimated 20,000 cases of hepatitis C in Spain that remain undiagnosed and untreated. The campaign, led by the Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver (AEEH), in which 17 organizations took part, informs about risk factors and false myths, and encourages all people who have doubts to take a serological test. status.

• Until 2017, more than 1,752 patients with hepatitis C began treatment with new direct-acting antivirals in hospitals of the Castilla-La Mancha Health Service (Sescam) since the implementation of the Strategic Plan for the Control of Hepatitis C in the National Health Service. System, April 2015

Treating hepatitis C in time means avoiding serious complications

The campaign features testimonies from four people who were diagnosed with hepatitis C at different times over the past 30 years. The campaign therefore encourages people with doubts to get tested “because today the disease is curable,” they explain, and also emphasizes that not only in terms of physical well-being, but also emotional and social, “it deserves grief.”

“To feel better”, “for quality of life”, “to gain confidence”, “to plan for their future”, these patients reason in a shared video, which is concluded by hepatologist and AEEH President Manuel Romero.

In individual video testimonials, patients recall their experiences, which are very different in each case, as they lived through very different historical moments in terms of knowledge of the disease and available treatments. Two of them, Carmen and Rafael, were discovered while direct-acting antivirals, which cure the disease in more than 95% of cases, were still many years away.

From liver cirrhosis to transplantation

The virus was discovered in Carmen in 1993 and Rafael in 2000, so they could only benefit from this treatment when hepatitis C had already caused liver damage: Carmen lived with cirrhosis of the liver, and Rafael eventually received a transplant. Both agree that “I wish” it could “happen to them now,” they warn that hepatitis C is asymptomatic and urge patients who might be at risk to get a simple blood test.

Two other campaign participants were able to recover and return to normal life. Both also agree that there are many reasons for treatment and encourage everyone to get tested if they have experienced risky situations such as sharing materials (syringes and others) for drug use, unprotected sex in risky environments such as chemsex, for example razor. blades or toothbrushes, tattoos, earrings or piercing performed using non-sterile material, blood transfusions or surgery before 1992.

Paco’s condition

Diego, who experienced the double stigma of coinfection with HIV and hepatitis C and founded the NGO Adhara to help patients in this situation, remembers that new treatments were an “absolute savior” for people like him and is glad that co-infection is in currently below 0.85% in Spain. Thanks also to new treatment methods, hepatitis C did not affect the successful professional career of Paco, one of the most recognized and awarded directors and stage designers in our country, leading opera works at the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Teatro de la Zarzuela, the Gran Liceo of Barcelona, ​​the Merida Festival and many others .

Finally, the campaign has the testimony of Seville hepatologist Manuel Romero, president of the Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver (AEEH). According to Romero, “The story of hepatitis C in our country is a dream come true: we never imagined that we could cure a chronic disease in just three months and that it would have such an impact on people’s quality of life.”