They advocate immediate initiation of hepatitis C treatment

The Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) has prepared a report on Delay in treatment of acute hepatitis C virus infection, in which they argue that “universal and immediate initiation of treatment for HCV in all patients, regardless of time of development,” should be recommended. ‘ advice in any sense delayed treatment acute hepatitis C virus infection Involves certain personal and collective risks, without obvious economic benefits. In this regard, they argue that delaying treatment of patients with acute HCV infection is an obstacle to achieving HCV elimination targets set by the World Health Organization (WHO).According to SEIMC, the development of a genotype-wide direct-acting antiviral (DAA) against HCV means having “Must have” tools In order to achieve the purpose of eradicating this virus. These drugs have demonstrated safety and efficacy in both acute and chronic infections.

strictly economic reasons

Since there is “no evidence that the safety and effectiveness of DAAs against HCV vary by time of infection, the recommendation not to treat patients with less than 6 months of infection” is based on the following recommendations: strictly economic reasons” sighs the epidemiologist. Therefore, the sole purpose of his recommendations is “to reduce the cost of treatment in cases where certain immune responses can eliminate the virus and resolve the acute infection spontaneously”. From a medical perspective, most confirmed cases of acute HCV infection are Patients with a very high risk of spreading the infection in their environment

: Multiple unprotected sexual encounters in a patient with a sexually transmitted infection or on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). “Thus, any delay in initiation of HCV treatment implies a high risk of community transmission, an obstacle to achieving its elimination and facilitating the maintenance of cases in the aforementioned populations,” they assert in this regard.

Breaking the chain of epidemiological transmission

Guidelines produced by European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) and the latest GEHEP-GESIDA guidelines for HIV-infected persons with liver disease recommend that in the setting of sexually transmitted acute HCV infectiontreatment should be started immediately

Its main goal is to break the epidemiological chain of transmission. “On the other hand, no studies have assessed the cost/benefit of delaying early treatment strategies in this population. Furthermore, we must not forget that HCV infection is a systemic infection that may develop extrahepatic disease at any time during its evolution. Complications,” they concluded.