Malaga joins campaign to detect last cases of hepatitis C

Spain, hepatologist Javier García-Samaniego, “has the opportunity to make history” and become the first country in the developed world to end public health issueHow Hepatitis C and one of the strategies for this is a campaign that has just been launched in 20 Spanish cities, including Malaga, to find people who are living with the disease in Spain and do not know it. This initiative is part of the Alliance to Eliminate Viral Hepatitis in Spain (AEHVE) and was launched to coincide with World Hepatitis Day. viral hepatitis which is celebrated next Sunday.

Thus, AEHVE, with García-Samaniego as coordinator, is leading the action, which will take place both in the capital of Málaga and in Seville, Madrid, Valencia, Gijón, Santander, A Coruña, Cordoba, Vigo, Málaga, Salamanca, Santiago de Compostela, Ferrol, León, Ecija (Seville), Cáceres, Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), Pontevedra, Almería, Granada and Alcoy (Alicante). This project is part of the #HelpCityFree initiative to address this chronic viral infection for which there is no vaccine, but there is a treatment that cures it, and it is estimated that around 20,000 people may suffer from it in Spain. According to AEHVE, which includes around fifteen medical societies, patients and scientific organizations, Spain leads the world in terms of people treated and cured, and the prevalence is currently below 0.1%.

As for the collaboration between the above-mentioned 20 cities, they are expected to diagnose people living with hepatitis C without knowing it, citizens who are likely to belong to vulnerable groups, such as the homeless or injection drug users. . He late diagnosis Infection, which occurs in a third of cases, makes the damage to the liver irreversible.

The campaign features an actor Carmelo Gomezwho didn’t know he had the disease until he was infected. In his case, the diagnosis came by chance when he went to donate blood in the late ’90s and was told he couldn’t because he had a liver condition. He had wanted to avoid hepatitis C for a while until symptoms appeared, in his case extreme fatigue. The treatment he followed had serious side effects and didn’t cure the disease.

The advent of direct acting antiviral drugs changed the course of his life and brought him back to normal. recovery in just a few weeks. According to the hepatologist and AEHVE coordinator, “with Carmelo we arrived on time, and with the current diagnostic capabilities we should be able to reach the 20,000 people who still suffer from it and the hundred who still die from it.”

Garcia-Samaniego raises question hepatitis c test all adults aged 50 to 85 years without a previous negative test and, in particular, vulnerable groups where the incidence of the disease is higher and for whom access is difficult.

Spain, as the hepatologist noted at the outset, “has the opportunity to make history” and become the first country among developed countries to put an end to a public health problem such as hepatitis C. This is serious politics health carepreventive actions, early diagnosis and care for risk groups, and the role of cities is key,” he noted.