Abstract
Background and aim: The World Health Organization (WHO) goal of hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination by 2030 relies on the scaling-up of both identification and linkage to care of the infected population, worldwide. In Italy, the estimated burden of HCV carriers who are unaware of their infection amounts to 200 000 persons, a projection that reinforces the need for broadening population access to effective screening programmes.
Methods: A pivotal screening programme targeting subjects born between 1969 and 1989 has been conducted in Lombardy, Northern Italy, where point-of-care (POC) testing was offered for free concomitantly to COVID-19 vaccination.
Results: Amongst 7219 subjects born between 1969 and 1989 who underwent HCV screening through POC, 7 (0.10%) subjects tested anti-HCV positive: 5 (0.07%) had confirmed anti-HCV positivity (Table 1) and 4 of them (0.05%) were HCV-RNA positive by standard confirmation tests.
Conclusions: This pivotal study demonstrated the feasibility of a POC-based anti-HCV screening programme in young adults undergoing COVID-19 vaccination. The prevalence of HCV infection in subjects born in the 1969-1989 cohort in Italy seems to be lower than previously estimated. Whether the extension of this programme to subjects born before 1969 could lead to improved screening effectiveness should be a matter of debate.
Keywords: POC; WHO; birth-cohorts; hepatitis C virus; screening.
【저자키워드】 POC, Screening, hepatitis C virus, WHO, birth-cohorts, 【초록키워드】 feasibility, Infection, Italy, HCV, Prevalence, point-of-care, Cohort, COVID-19 vaccination, Hepatitis, Effectiveness, Care, lombardy, World Health Organization, Anti-HCV, subject, table, extension, positive, carrier, effective, tested, conducted, demonstrated, offered, 【제목키워드】 HCV, COVID-19 vaccination,