World Hepatitis Day - Tackling "Inadequate" Testing: Dried Blood Spot And Oral Fluids Offer Chance To Extend Hepatitis Screening

Main Category: Liver Disease / Hepatitis
Article Date: 24 May 2009 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

On World Hepatitis Day, Concateno, a provider of drug testing and medical screening solutions, calls for the increased use of a broader range of Hepatitis testing techniques including dried blood spot and oral fluid testing. The company argues that these cost-effective and easy to use methods are often more convenient than collecting whole blood samples, and could significantly increase screening among injecting drug users (IDUs), one of the highest risk groups for infection.

One in 12 people worldwide are living with either chronic Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C . In the UK alone, it is estimated that 130,000 people carry the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) but are undiagnosed and more than 325,000 people have a chronic Hepatitis B infection .

"World Hepatitis Day helps to raise awareness of Hepatitis, but it also calls for more extensive and systematic screening, diagnosis, referral and treatment," said Sarah Danford, head of UK healthcare marketing division, Concateno. "We have worked for several years to pilot and bring to market effective screening solutions for Hepatitis using oral fluid and dried blood spot testing, and have seen these approaches to be a highly effective and reliable way of providing convenient screening for this disease."

Dried blood spot and oral fluid tests, which are fast, simple and far less invasive, can allow for Hepatitis screening to be offered in the context of drop-in drug treatment services. This would help detection of the disease in IDUs.

In an open session on 14 May, the UK's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) repeated the need to increase testing for HCV, underlining the recent Home Office report The Primary Prevention of Hepatitis C, which recommended that:

"All services (especially specialist drug clinics, low threshold agencies, and prisons) in regular contact with injecting drug users need to increase the frequency of HCV diagnostic testing among clients (IDUs)."

The ACMD also stated that "HCV diagnostic testing has increased, but uptake and frequency is generally inadequate among current IDUs."

Sarah Danford explained: "While whole blood sample tests are highly effective as a way of screening, convenience plays a major role in ensuring that screening is accessible. For drug users it is vital that a test can be provided in the simplest form to ensure they participate in the screening process. In some areas, a whole blood sample test could require sending an individual to a separate hospital appointment to take a test, which is an additional barrier to screening, particularly in the difficult context of drug dependency treatment. We would stress that no single type of screening should be seen inherently superior - but that an effective programme will be dependent on matching the testing methodology to the context of individual lives."

Hepatitis is described as a silent killer, with the fatal symptoms of an infection often taking decades to emerge. Hepatitis is a blood-borne virus that predominantly infects the cells of the liver. This can cause inflammation of and sometimes significant damage to the liver and affect its ability to perform its many, varied and essential functions.

According to the Health Protection Agency's Hepatitis C in the UK Report (December 2008), many of the Hepatitis C infections in the UK today have originated through injecting drug use in the 1960s and '70s. As a consequence, it is anticipated that liver diseases relating to Hepatitis C are likely to increase. With acute Hepatitis B, the highest incidence is among young adults, particularly high-risk sexual activity groups and injecting drug users . It is estimated that there are now more than 325,000 people in the UK with chronic Hepatitis B infection .

World Hepatitis Day, observed on 19 May, is coordinated by the World Hepatitis Alliance, a non-governmental organisation that represents approximately 200 Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C patient groups from around the world.

Today, Concateno is working with more than 150 services across the UK to implement blood borne virus screening. Working in partnership with these services, Concateno has produced posters and leaflets to help raise awareness of the Hepatitis virus.

Source
Concateno