Changing epidemiology of parenterally transmitted viral hepatitis: results from the hepatitis surveillance system in Italy

Epidemiology of hepatitis C virus infection

“…Determining the incidence of HCV infection (i.e., the rate of newly acquired infections) is difficult because most acute infections are asymptomatic, available assays do not distinguish acute from chronic or resolved infection, and most countries do not systematically collect data on cases of acute disease. Even in countries with well-established surveillance systems, acute disease reporting systems www.wjgnet.com underestimate the incidence of HCV infection [25][26][27] . For several countries, mathematical models have been used to infer trends in incidence, which rely on the assumption that current age-specific prevalence reflects the cumulative risk of acquiring infection.…”

“…Since 1989, the incidence of reported cases of hepatitis C has declined by more than 80% [30] , consistent with the finding that the national seroprevalence of infection remained unchanged between 1988 and 2002 [7] . The rate of new HCV infections also declined in Italy in the 1990s according to reported cases of acute disease [27] . In both the United States and Italy, most newly acquired infections are in young adults (30-35 years old) [30,31] .…”

Transmission of hepatitis C virus by blood transfusions and other medical procedures: A global review

“…As a result, most chronic transfusion recipients and virtually all patients receiving clotting factor concentrates developed chronic hepatitis [14][15][16]. However, the incidence of HCV infection in resource-rich countries greatly decreased within a few years because of improved infection control standards, the implementation of effective virusinactivation procedures for blood derivatives (1987), and the introduction of second-generation anti-HCV tests for blood donors (1992) [17][18][19]. The majority of new HCV infections in these countries are now due to needle sharing by intravenous drug abusers [17].…”

Epidemiology of hepatitis B in adults in the west

“…Persistence of high-risk habits, changes in patterns of sexual behavior among male homosexuals, and poor vaccination coverage of persons at high risk for HBV infection account for the persistence of a high incidence of HBV infection among these individuals. A significant decline of the incidence of acute hepatitis B has also been documented in Italy [8]. In this country, the Hepatitis Surveillance System collected data from 137 local health units covering 32 million persons, who represented about 56% of the Italian population.…”