Hepatitis C screening in patients with oral lichen planus

Abstract

We read an interesting article by Manomaivat and colleagues about the correlation between hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and oral lichen planus (OLP) in your journal. 1 The World Health Organization planned to eliminate viral hepatitis by 2030, and one important step for this elimination is finding infected people. 2,3 According to the global prevalence of HCV (1%), the widespread screening seems not to be cost-effective. This screening is recommended in people with a greater risk of being infected. 2 The prevalence of HCV in OLP patients was nine times higher than the control group and approximately 18 times higher than the general population of Thailand. 1 Thus, OLP patients are a special group for HCV screening and case finding to eliminate viral hepatitis in Thailand. This issue could be mentioned in local HCV elimination guidelines of Thailand. More studies in other countries are needed to evaluate the importance of screening OLP patients to find unknown HCV-infected people. In addition, local protocols are needed for following up these HCV-infected patients for additional diagnostic tests (eg polymerase chain reaction, genotyping and fibro scan) and linking them to treatment.Manomaivat and colleagues evaluated alcohol drinking, smoking, intravenous drug use, and betel nut chewing as potential risk factors for HCV infection. Previous studies mentioned tattooing, 4 nonintravenous drug use, 5 history of imprisonment, 6 high-risk sexual behavior, and other risk factors for increasing the risk of HCV infection compared to the general population. 2 We suggest that Manomaivat and colleagues control their results for these known risk factors, so they can evaluate the parallel effects of these cofactors on HCV infection. More data are needed to make a decision about the importance of HCV screening in OLP patients. O RCI DHamidreza Karimi-Sari