Researchers at the INCLIVA Health Research Institute have launched a project to determine the likelihood of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in populations not studied for liver disease so that they can be offered treatment and progress to liver disease. can be stopped.
Similarly, it aims to detect possible viral infections of other types of hepatitis (HBV and HDV) and those caused by other viruses—such as HIV, which causes AIDS—that may be associated with transmission with hepatitis C virus in the study population. Shares the system. Able to refer, if necessary, to relevant services for follow-up and treatment.
Implications of the Implementation of New Screening Strategies for the Hepatitis C Microelimination Project at the Valencia Clinico-Malvarosa Health Department As principal investigators Dr. Amparo Escudero-Incliva from the Neurological Impairment Research Group, specialist in digestive medicine of the Department de Salud Valencia-Clinico Malvarosa and Professor at the Department of Medicine of the University of Valencia (UV) – whose lines of research include the study of viral liver diseases, and David Navarro, Coordinator of Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis Research Group of INCLIVA, Head of Microbiology and Clinical Hospital of Parasitology Service and Professor of Microbiology at U.V.
Detection of hepatitis C virus, a global public health problem
Hepatitis C is the only chronic viral infection that is completely cured by clearing the virus, but it is also a global public health problem. According to the latest published data, it affects more than 70 million people in the world, representing 1% of the population.
Recent studies conducted in Spain during the past 3 years estimate that the seroprevalence (percentage of people exposed to the virus) of hepatitis C enterovirus (HCV) is between 0.8% and 1.2% of the adult population and that it is 0.2 Between 100% and 0.4% show an active HCV infection and, therefore, are at risk of developing liver cirrhosis and its associated complications in the medium- to long-term. A significant portion of these people have already been diagnosed and treated, although there is a relatively high number of patients—particularly those over the age of 50—who are unaware that they have hepatitis C.
More than 22,000 people with active infection who have not been diagnosed with hepatitis C virus
The undiagnosed fraction of HCV infection for active infection is 29.4%, which puts the number of people with active infection unaware of being infected in our country at 22,478. In addition to people with active infection who are unaware that they are infected, we must also add those patients who are not being treated despite being diagnosed.
The prevalence of HCV infection in the emergency room-visiting population is clearly higher than that estimated in the general population, with active infection rates twice as high, so hepatitis C screening in emergency services may be an effective strategy to increase diagnosis. HCV infection rate
Get better cure rates
It is important to improve the circuit of care for these patients, not only to improve the diagnosis of HCV infection, but also to achieve better cure rates among those diagnosed. In this sense, one-stage diagnosis manages to avoid the loss of patients in the system, which can be attributed to the high number of medical visits until treatment is initiated.
Based on these data from studies in emergency departments and taking into account both the World Health Organization (WHO) objectives for HCV and the screening recommendations of the Spanish Association for the Study of the Liver (AEEH), which suggest that complete Populations should an HCV determination be made at some point in their lives, the action in this project is aimed at populations treated in the emergency service and those who are in the anesthesia service from the relevant preoperative period, taking advantage of the time to obtain the analysis. Let’s pass ,
Research team
The study is being carried out with the participation of the Digestive Medicine, Emergency, Anesthesia and Microbiology services of the Hospital Clínico de Valencia.
The research team is composed of doctors Rafael Badenas and Carlos Tornero from the INCLIVA Anesthesiology and Resuscitation Research Group and the Anesthesia and Resuscitation Service of the Clinical Hospital; José Javier Noseda and Mª Teresa Sánchez, from the Medical Emergency Service of the Hospital Clínico; Mª Jesus Alcaraz, from the INCLIVA Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis Research Group and the Hospital Clínico Microbiology Service; David Marty Aguado, Joan Rhodes Researcher at INCLIVA and Digestive Medicine Service of Hospital Clinicos; and Mª Pilar Ballester Faray, from the INCLIVA Neurological Impairment Research Group and the Digestive Medicine Service of the Clinical Hospital.
The current project, with a duration of 24 months (18 months for recruitment period and 6 months for final analysis), has received funding of 23,594.32 Euro in the 5th call for Gilead Scholarships for Hepatitis C Microleumination Projects. and Hepatitis D Epidemiology in 2022, aimed at competitive projects, which are awarded after the study and evaluation of the AEEH.
