For hepatitis C, one of the main causes of the development of chronic liver diseases such as chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer or hepatocarcinoma, resulting in the frequent need for transplantation, there is no vaccine and the use of immunoglobulins has not proven effective.
The activation of free screening in Italy, established by state law in 2020 and aimed at the emergence of chronic HCV infection intended for those born between 1968 and 1989, for subjects in the care of addiction services (Ser. D) and to detained people, together with universal access to antiviral drugs starting from 2017 as part of the Plan to eliminate HCV infection, has made it possible to identify and treat over 200 thousand patients with chronic hepatitis C infection, the highest number of patients treated in Europe.
“In this context – states the General Director of the “San Carlo” regional hospital in Potenza Giuseppe Spera – must be framed the important study conducted by our Internal Medicine specialists led by the Director of the Internal Affairs Department Dr. Buccianti. The work will be presented in Rimini as part of the 29th National Congress of Fadoi, Federation of associations of internal medicine hospital managers, with the aim of demonstrating the therapeutic efficacy and high level of safety of the pangenotypic antiviral therapy, effective for all genotypes of the HCV virus, in a cohort of 200 patients positive for the hepatitis C virus and residing in Basilicata. Once again, San Carlo’s ability to combine health care activity with study and research emerges, with important recognitions on the national and international scene”.
“According to 2015 World Health Organization estimates, there are approximately 71 million people affected by the hepatitis C virus worldwide, equal to just over one percent of the global population, with a wide variability of geographical distribution – explains the doctor Nello Buccianti -. In Italy, according to recently published estimates, there are approximately 400 thousand people affected by hepatitis C, of which almost 290 thousand have a stage of fibrosis ranging from absent to advanced, therefore potentially asymptomatic. The central part of the work conducted with colleagues from Internal Medicine at the Potenza hospital lasted 8 weeks and was of interest 200 patients from Basilicata, divided almost equally between women and men, treated with pangenotypic antiviral therapy. After 12 weeks from treatment discontinuation, the sustained virological response in 100% of patients was not affected by the degree of fibrosis, viremia, genotype, age and sex, and no adverse events were detected. The current antiviral treatment of hepatitis C virus, as demonstrated by our work and literature data, reduces transmission of the virus so much so that it can be defined as a prevention method. The elimination of virus C, a therapeutic prerogative of current drugs, must represent a stimulus to the implementation of the screening campaign for virus C which the Basilicata Region has joined in order to bring out hidden cases and contribute to achieving the objective proclaimed by the WHO which identified 2030 as the year of elimination of the infection”.
