Where are people being tested for anti-HCV in England? Results from sentinel laboratory surveillance

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J Viral Hepat. 2008 Jul 10. [Epub ahead of print]

Where are people being tested for anti-HCV in England? Results from sentinel

laboratory surveillance.

Brant LJ, Hurrelle M, Balogun MA, Klapper P, Ramsay ME; the Hepatitis Sentinel

Surveillance Study Group.

Health Protection Agency, Centre for Infections, Colindale, London, UK.

Many people infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) are unaware of their infection

and are, therefore. potentially infectious to others. To enable effective

case-finding policies to be developed, an understanding of where people, and

injecting drug users (IDUs) in particular, are accessing HCV antibody testing is

needed. HCV antibody testing data were collected electronically from 21 sentinel

laboratories in England between 2002 and 2006 in this cross-sectional study.

Service types of the physician requesting the HCV test were identified and

classified. Differences in people being tested in each service type and over

time were investigated. Over half a million people were tested in 5 years.

Whilst most testing took place in hospital, a large proportion of people were

tested in community care, particularly in general practice surgeries and

genito-urinary medicine clinics. Younger people were more likely to be tested in

community care, and there was evidence that testing differed according to ethnic

status. IDUs were tested in all parts of the health services, although the

highest proportion positive were from prisons and specialist services for drug

users. Testing increased between 2002 and 2005 whilst the proportion of people

testing positive declined. Routine laboratory data can provide valuable

information on where people are being tested for HCV. Risk exposures should be

investigated and testing targeted to people at higher risk for infection. Local

laboratories should review data on testing locations and proportion positive to

inform local initiatives to improve testing and yield.

PMID: 18637078 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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