we must move beyond the C virus

More than 300 million people worldwide live with chronic hepatitis B or C infections, which, to give us an idea, means that Viral hepatitis is many times more common than HIV.. This was emphasized by the director of the Complutense Summer Courses, Natalia Abuin, during the VI Conference on “Public Health Issues in Liver Diseases”, held this week in collaboration with Gilead in San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

Important topics discussed included the elimination of hepatitis C (HCV), assistance in emergency situations and vulnerable populations, and challenges or advances in the treatment of hepatitis Delta (HDV).

Because, although Spain is one of the first countries in the world to achieve the elimination of the hepatitis C virus. (HCV) – in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) 2030 targets – there is still a way to go to achieve this goal as the estimated number of people with active undiagnosed HCV at the state level is 15,856 and the number of people with active hepatitis C is 54,676, which brings the total to about 70,532 people who will need to be diagnosed and/or treated in our country.

This is why it is extremely important to have initiatives identification of patients with latent infection due to viral hepatitis, supported by the desire of health workers and institutions to improve diagnostics and achieve set goals.

“We work in concentric circles and reclaim land from the sea, like Holland, by first identifying vulnerable people ‘lost’ in and outside the health system and now we need to finish“We have carried out campaigns to detect the virus outside hospitals and to transfer treatment so that someone diagnosed with HCV wins the lottery because they are 100% cured and will no longer be contagious. The Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (Semes) has also done very important work in the field of emergency care in hospitals. All this demonstrates the need for collaboration between everyone to start this final sprint,” explains Manuel Romero, president of the Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver (AEHH). In any case, he noted, “we must be very careful and not be too optimistic, although this is a dream, since hepatitis B (HBV) continues to be the most common and the one that affects the most people in the world.”

There are about 300 million people worldwide with chronic type B or C infections.

In addition, within the framework of the day Call to Action to Eliminate Hepatitis C Projectlaunched jointly by AEEH and Gilead and presented as part of the course. With it, we want to “identify the actions we want to influence and what are the opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses to put an end to HCV. We need the support of public structures, raising awareness among the population and facilitating access to diagnosis and treatment, which is not difficult,” explains Romero. “All this is synthesized in six action lines: intensifying information campaigns; launching an eradication strategy between the Ministry and the Autonomous Communities; relaunching the 2015 viral hepatitis eradication plan; incorporating digitalization in HCV diagnosis and monitoring; decentralizing everything: go where the patient is; and be vigilant to prevent reinfection,” he continues.

Other liver diseases

Also considered The problem of chronic hepatitis D (HDV), the most serious hepatitis. A defective virus that cannot replicate without the help of another virus, so all these patients always also have HBV. It is a rare disease that affects populations with low hepatitis B vaccination rates, who are often young and largely belong to vulnerable groups. Many are co-infected with HCV (16%) or HIV (10%), or have been or continue to inject drugs. It is associated with more rapid progression of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, and an increased risk of liver cancer and death.

At the moment, Many patients with IOP are not diagnosed partly due to limited knowledge about the disease, resulting in fewer diagnoses to detect the disease.