One in three hepatitis C infections is still diagnosed late, when the damage is irreversible.

Since 2015, Spain has treated and cured almost 170,000 patients. Spain is leading the fight against infection worldwide. hepatitis C. Although this is great progress, there is still a need to continue working to eradicate this chronic viral infection because although there is no vaccine, antiviral drugs (ADDs) are available that reverse the disease.

According to Dr. Javier García-Samaniego, coordinator of the Alliance for the Elimination of Viral Hepatitis in Spain (AEHVE) and head of hepatology at the University Hospital of La Paz (HULP) in Madrid, there have been “four related deaths” in our country. every week associated with hepatitis C” that can be prevented by treatment that cures “virtually 100% of cases” and that when given early, it can prevent “the damage it causes to the liver over the years.”

The key to these findings lies in late diagnosis, which occurs in a third of cases, and what is the cause damage that already exists in the liver may be irreversible despite treatment of the infection.

Given the prevalence of active infection in the general population, which the Ministry of Health estimated at 0.22% in 2018 and which AEHVE estimates will currently be around 0.1%, cases that have yet to be diagnosed, treated and cured , refer to the general population: those of the people who They contracted the infection 20 years ago. and they don’t know they have it or weren’t treated at the time.

To achieve cure of infection in these patients, final efforts to inform and raise awareness about hepatitis C and detection of undiagnosed infection, offering and administering a diagnostic test (a simple blood test) to the entire population, without prior HCV antibody testing, born between 1945 and 1975.

The WHO itself goes even further in its latest update of the global strategies needed to accelerate the elimination of hepatitis C in the world, recommending screening of the entire population at this age. As Dr. Marta Casado, president of the Spanish Digestive System Foundation (FEAD), said, each person with a late diagnosis will create “a large burden of disease for the health system” for those who receive it. introduction of artificial intelligence and diagnostic strategies, Since Galicia is doing well with excellent results, this would make “age-based screening of the general population quite acceptable.”

Identifying undiagnosed cases is not the only problem. Another major challenge, as Dr. Casado notes, is conducting “active case searches” among most vulnerable groups which can only be achieved through decentralized resources and alternative strategies. To achieve this goal, the specialist adds, there are microelimination strategies – a novelty that brings diagnosis and treatment closer to this group of people.