The Urgent Need to Implement Point-of-Care RNA Testing for Hepatitis C Virus to Support Elimination.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination is an important global public health goal. However, the United States is not on track to meet the World Health Organization's 2030 targets for HCV elimination. Recently, the White House proposed an HCV elimination plan that includes point-of-care (POC) HCV RNA testing, which is currently in use in many countries but is not approved in the United States. POC HCV RNA testing is crucial for implementing community-based testing and for enabling test-and-treat programs, assessing cure, and monitoring for reinfection. Here, we review the status of POC HCV RNA testing in the United States, discuss factors that are needed for successful implementation, and issue specific public health and policy recommendations that would allow for the use of POC HCV RNA testing to support HCV elimination.
Competing Interests: Potential conflicts of interest. S. N. K. and B. J. E. report grants paid to their institutions from Gilead Sciences Inc, unrelated to the current work. B. J. E. reports research grant support from the NIDA at the National Institutes Health and payment or honoraria for a lecture from the New York State Department of Health. All remaining authors: No reported conflicts of interest. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.
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