Hepatitis C and general practice: the crucial role of primary care in stemming the epidemic

[摘要] The hepatitis C epidemic is now a public health crisis in the UK; this was the conclusion of the recent Scottish consensus conference on hepatitis C.1 Since the identification of the virus in 1989, the extent of the epidemic has been gradually unfolding, yet the scale of the clinical problem has yet to be defined. Hepatitis C is often described in relation to HIV, and although there are many similarities between the infections, with useful lessons to be learned for dealing with this ‘new’ epidemic, it has often led hepatitis C to be characterised as relatively an almost benign and incidental infection. This has had a profound impact on our response to the hepatitis C epidemic.

[学科分类] 卫生学