22,500 adults living with hepatitis C disease in the North West

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People who inject drugs currently or have done so in the past should arrange to be tested for hepatitis C disease so that they can be brought into treatment at an early stage if found to be infected, experts from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) North West advised today.

The advice is issued as the agency’s North West annual hepatitis C report (published 30/7/12) reveals that at least 22,500 adults in the region are estimated to be living with chronic hepatitis C disease and the annual cost of treating them is £29 million.

The figure of 22,500 is likely to be an underestimation as many people with the disease don’t know they have it because the human liver continues to work even when damaged, so there are no symptoms in the early stages. Symptoms only occur when the liver damage is serious.

Furthermore, there are comparatively high numbers of people who inject drugs in the North West and drug users are the group most at risk of hepatitis C infection.

Dr. Evdokia Dardamissis, Consultant in Health Protection and the North West’s Regional Hepatitis C lead, said: “There are some encouraging signs that levels of hepatitis C are beginning to decrease in the North West, but it remains a major public health problem.

“We are working closely with our NHS partners and drug services to improve surveillance and research and to increase public awareness, particularly amongst injecting drug users because they are at greatest risk in this region.

“If we can raise public awareness, the people who are most at risk can take measures to prevent themselves from becoming infected and those who are already infected can be brought into highly effective treatment programmes. An important message is that people who believe that they may have been exposed to hepatitis C infection should arrange to be tested for the virus. Tests can be arranged through GPs or drug services.”

The annual report highlights a number of key issues for the North West:

• Nearly 5% of people tested for hepatitis C between 2005-2011 were positive
• 60% of injecting drug users who were tested anonymously in 2011 were positive, compared to a national figure of 45%
• The number of young people aged 15 to 24 undergoing tests for hepatitis C has increased by 75% between 2005 and 2011, but the percentage of positive results has encouragingly decreased from 3% to 0.6%%.
• Of the injecting drug users infected with hepatitis C who took part in an unlinked anonymous testing survey during 2011, only 56% reported being aware of their positive status. This clearly has implications for the onward transmission of infection.