Fragmento

Despite remarkable progress in the development of new antiviral therapies, hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains an enormous global public health problem. Although cure is the new norm with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) and treatment uptake hit record highs in 2016, the global burden of disease has inched very modestly downwards. Looking at global data, projections for 2017 are disheartening. Although an estimated 1.5 million people will be cured and another 350,000 will die from HCV while another 1.04 million HCV-infected individuals die of other causes, a staggering 1.6 million new infections are expected to occur, meaning that even in the year with the highest treatment rates ever recorded for HCV, the global prevalence is expected to dip by just 1.8%, from 71 to 68.8 million infected individuals (Andrew Hill, World Hepatitis Summit, São Paulo 2017). To achieve the ambitious elimination targets set out by the World Health Organization (WHO) of a 90% reduction in new infections and a 65% reduction in mortality from viral hepatitis by 2030, significant scale up of our current efforts will be required. Effective therapy was critical to even consider elimination but it is important to recognize that therapy is necessary but entirely insufficient on its own to achieve elimination.

Palabras clave:

2018-08-22   |   127 visitas   |   Evalua este artículo 0 valoraciones

Vol. 17 Núm.1. Enero-Febrero 2018 Pags. 8-10 Ann Hepatol 2018; 17(1)