National Hepatitis C Database for infection acquired through blood and blood products
| dc.contributor.author | Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2015-08-21T10:53:55Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2015-08-21T10:53:55Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2010 | en |
| dc.identifier.issn | 978-0-9551236-2-7 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10147/575421 | en |
| dc.description | Hepatitis C infection is a major cause of liver disease and it is estimated that up to 20% of people with chronic infection will develop cirrhosis over a 20 to 25 year period. Very effective treatment is now available, which eradicates the virus in over 50% of cases. Approximately 1,700 people in Ireland became infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) through contaminated blood and blood products. The National Hepatitis C Database was established to gather information on people infected in this way. This report describes the results of the third round of data collection. Main findings Profile of participants • Twenty eight people have been added to the database since the last round of data collection. The total number of participants is 1,303 (76% of those eligible). • Older people were more likely to participate in the database. • The majority of database participants were infected through contaminated anti-D immunoglobulin (62%), with 26% infected through receipt of blood transfusions or treatment for renal disease, and 12% through blood clotting factors. • 73% of the database population are females, reflecting the large anti-D cohort. • The average age of the database population is now 57 years and the average duration of infection is 30 years. These figures vary by source of infection: o The larger anti-D cohort (1977-79 outbreak) have an average age of 58 years and duration of infection of 31 years. o The smaller anti-D cohort (1991-94 outbreak) have an average age of 45 years and duration of infection of 15 years. o The blood transfusion/renal group have an average age of 60 years and duration of infection of 23 years. o The blood clotting factor group have an average age of 44.5 years and duration of infection of 31 years. Hepatitis C status • Overall, 62% of participants had tested HCV RNA positive (indicating active infection) at least once, and a further 15% had positive HCV confirmatory antibody tests but no positive RNA results. The remaining 23% tested either ELISA/EIA (screening test) positive/weak positive or had an indeterminate result on confirmatory testing. • The true viral clearance rate for participants is likely to be between 19% and 36% (having taken account of those who died before RNA testing, and allowing for the possibility that some participants may have had false positive screening test results). • Females were significantly more likely to have cleared the virus at the time of diagnosis. • 76% were HCV genotype 1 and 19% genotype 3. | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.subject | HEPATITIS C | en |
| dc.subject | BLOOD TRANSFUSION | en |
| dc.subject | BLOODBORNE TRANSMISSION | en |
| dc.subject | INFECTION CONTROL | en |
| dc.title | National Hepatitis C Database for infection acquired through blood and blood products | en |
| dc.type | Report | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Health Service Executive (HSE) | en |
| refterms.dateFOA | 2018-08-27T08:16:14Z |
