Hepatitis C: a changing epidemic
Approximately 3% of the world population is estimated to have a chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and 500,000 individuals die from its consequences yearly. Persons who inject drugs (PWID) bear the majority of the disease burden in high-income countries. Drug substitution programmes have he...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SMW supporting association (Trägerverein Swiss Medical Weekly SMW)
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Swiss Medical Weekly |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/1979 |
| _version_ | 1826997097463808000 |
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| author | Gilles Wandeler Jean-François Dufour Philip Bruggmann Andri Rauch |
| author_facet | Gilles Wandeler Jean-François Dufour Philip Bruggmann Andri Rauch |
| author_sort | Gilles Wandeler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Approximately 3% of the world population is estimated to have a chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and 500,000 individuals die from its consequences yearly. Persons who inject drugs (PWID) bear the majority of the disease burden in high-income countries. Drug substitution programmes have helped reduce HCV transmissions among PWID. However, recent epidemics of sexually transmitted HCV infections in HIV-infected men who have sex with men demonstrated the changing nature of the HCV epidemic. HCV therapy is undergoing a revolution, as new interferon-free, oral treatments eradicate HCV infections in almost all treated patients. As a consequence, the eradication of HCV has become a matter of debate and is becoming an important future public health target. However, for this to be achieved, many challenges need to be addressed, including the poor uptake of HCV testing, the high cost of the new antiviral combinations and the high frequency of re-infections after treatment in some populations.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T00:24:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5de08fe18d7d4b99a268bd4bf4133393 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-3997 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-18T09:55:19Z |
| publishDate | 2015-01-01 |
| publisher | SMW supporting association (Trägerverein Swiss Medical Weekly SMW) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Swiss Medical Weekly |
| spelling | doaj.art-5de08fe18d7d4b99a268bd4bf41333932024-11-02T09:11:14ZengSMW supporting association (Trägerverein Swiss Medical Weekly SMW)Swiss Medical Weekly1424-39972015-01-01145050610.4414/smw.2015.14093Hepatitis C: a changing epidemicGilles WandelerJean-François DufourPhilip BruggmannAndri Rauch Approximately 3% of the world population is estimated to have a chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and 500,000 individuals die from its consequences yearly. Persons who inject drugs (PWID) bear the majority of the disease burden in high-income countries. Drug substitution programmes have helped reduce HCV transmissions among PWID. However, recent epidemics of sexually transmitted HCV infections in HIV-infected men who have sex with men demonstrated the changing nature of the HCV epidemic. HCV therapy is undergoing a revolution, as new interferon-free, oral treatments eradicate HCV infections in almost all treated patients. As a consequence, the eradication of HCV has become a matter of debate and is becoming an important future public health target. However, for this to be achieved, many challenges need to be addressed, including the poor uptake of HCV testing, the high cost of the new antiviral combinations and the high frequency of re-infections after treatment in some populations. https://www.smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/1979EpidemiologyViral Hepatitis C infectiondirect-acting antiviralsHIV-coinfectioneradication |
| spellingShingle | Gilles Wandeler Jean-François Dufour Philip Bruggmann Andri Rauch Hepatitis C: a changing epidemic Swiss Medical Weekly Epidemiology Viral Hepatitis C infection direct-acting antivirals HIV-coinfection eradication |
| title | Hepatitis C: a changing epidemic |
| title_full | Hepatitis C: a changing epidemic |
| title_fullStr | Hepatitis C: a changing epidemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hepatitis C: a changing epidemic |
| title_short | Hepatitis C: a changing epidemic |
| title_sort | hepatitis c a changing epidemic |
| topic | Epidemiology Viral Hepatitis C infection direct-acting antivirals HIV-coinfection eradication |
| url | https://www.smw.ch/index.php/smw/article/view/1979 |
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