High prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies in patients visiting the accident and emergency department of the J. W. Goethe University Hospital, Frankfurt/Main
J Vermehren, S Elanjimattom, A Berger, I Marzi, R Lehmann, A Zeiher, G Hintereder, S Zeuzem, C Sarrazin · Zeitschrift für Gastroenterologie · 2010 · Heft 08
Bibliografische Angaben
Zusammenfassung
Aims: Prevalence of HCV infection in Europe is estimated to be low with 0.5–1.5% of the population having detectable HCV antibodies in observational studies of blood donors and other cohorts. However, HCV infection is under-diagnosed with approximately only one-fourth to one-fifth of the patients currently diagnosed in Germany. Moreover, in an increasing number of patients diagnosis of HCV infection is made in the late stage of disease with already established liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. Treatment of HCV infection is possible with sustained virologic response in more than 50% of patients. Therefore, a more…