P- 54 HEPATITIS C MICROELIMINATION IN FORMER DRUG USERS

Abstract

Introduction and Objectives: Hepatitis C (HCV) infection is a major health problem around the globe. World Health Organization is committed to eliminating viral hepatitis by 2030. The most pragmatic approach to achieve this objective is to break down national elimination goals into smaller targets for individual population segments (microelimination). HCV prevalence in Argentina is about 0.5% in the general population, but there is no prevalence data in the drug users sub-population in our country. This study aimed to present study are 1) to estimate HCV prevalence among drug users in Argentina 2) and to describe clinical and virological characteristics in this community. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study. Eligible patients (pts) were 18 years of age or older with present or past drug use history. Exclusion criteria were refusal to participate in the study, incapacity to understand the informed consent and severe mental illness. Pts were evaluated by a quick visual qualitative assay to detect HCV antibodies (Montebio®: Sensitivity: 99.8% -Specifity: 99.9%) and they were asked to answer a brief questionnaire to evaluate the presence of other HCV risk factors. Results: Between March 1st, 2021 and October 30th, 2021, 202 eligible pts were identified. We excluded 4 pts (1 because of acute cocaine intoxication and 3 pts refused to participate). A total of 198 consecutive pts were included. Seven pts (3.5%) had a positive qualitative assay result and were further assessed for liver fibrosis, viral load, genotype and co-infections (table 1). Six out of seven pts (86%) did not know that they had had contact with HCV, 4/7 (57%) had positive viremia and 75% of them received antiviral treatment. Conclusions: HCV prevalence among drug users is higher than in the general population. Microelimination is a useful tool to approach this global health problem.