Clinicians from a specialist treatment hub at Addenbrooke’s Hospital believe the region is “on the home straight” in eradicating hepatitis C (HCV/HepC), a dangerous virus that attacks the liver.
The Eastern Region Hepatitis C Operational Delivery Network (HCV ODN) provides testing, treatment, and support to people with HCV across the East of England, with bases in Basildon, Bedford, Luton, Ipswich, Norwich and Peterborough, and a hub at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
It follows an NHS England announcement this week that more than 100,000 people have accessed potentially life-saving treatment for hepatitis C in the last decade – meaning England is on track to become one of the first countries in the world to eliminate the virus.
Hepatitis C is spread through contact with blood infected with the virus. It damages liver cells, which over several years can cause serious liver scarring, liver failure and liver cancer. With a lack of clear symptoms, people can be infected and go undiagnosed for many years.
Treatment is easy to take and accessible, involving 8-12 weeks of tablets with few or no side effects and a 96 per cent cure rate.
Risk factors for having the virus include people who use or have previously used drugs, those who have moved to England from certain eastern European countries and those who have had healthcare abroad.
Eastern Region HCV ODN says that since it started its campaign in 2015 more than 6,300 people have started treatment following a test - but now new cases are thankfully becoming more difficult to find. Through mobile testing stations within communities and close-working with GPs and other partners to raise awareness, the team says they are seeing fewer referrals. On World Hepatitis Day on 28 July, they parked their van at a single GP surgery and managed to test 65 people.
Operational delivery network manager, Helen Sadler, said:
Our message to anyone who has the slightest concern that they may be infected is to drop into the van and get tested. It only takes a few minutes and if there is a problem there are rapid, highly effective, treatment available.
The alternative is to order a test online via the NHS website. This is a free, confidential service for people aged over 18 with an address in England.
Operational delivery network manager, Helen Sadler
Visit Eastern Region HCV ODN for information or to order a free home test.