1. Prevalence of HCV in prisons in Wales, UK and the impact of moving to opt-out HCV testing
- Author
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Amy Plimmer, Noel Craine, Stephanie E. Perrett, and Ananda Giri Shankar
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,media_common.quotation_subject ,030508 substance abuse ,Prison ,Audit ,Hepacivirus ,World health ,Opt-out ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,mental disorders ,medicine ,Prevalence ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,media_common ,Cause of death ,Wales ,business.industry ,Public health ,Risk of infection ,Prisoners ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,virus diseases ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Hepatitis C ,United Kingdom ,Prisons ,0305 other medical science ,business ,Viral hepatitis ,Demography - Abstract
Background Viral hepatitis is a leading cause of death worldwide. The World Health Organisation introduced a target to reduce hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a public health threat by 2030. Testing and treatment of those at elevated risk of infection in prison is key to achieving disease elimination. An opt-out testing policy for those in prison was introduced in Wales, UK, in 2016. Methods We analysed all Wales laboratory data where the testing site was a prison. We analysed numbers tested and positivity for a 14-month period before and after the introduction of opt-out testing policy. Results Between September 2015 and December 2017, 6949 HCV tests were from prison settings in Wales, equating to 29% of admissions to prison (P Conclusion Data suggest implementation of opt-out policy improved uptake and diagnosis of HCV amongst those in prison; however, further effort is required to fully embed screening for all. Positivity remains high amongst those in prison, particularly in short-stay prisons. Laboratory data can support audit of opt-out policy.
- Published
- 2019