Screening recommendations for hepatitis C have evolved in recent years. In 2014, the recommendations that previously targeted people at risk of infection were extended to men aged 18 to 60 and pregnant women from the first antenatal consultation. These recommendations were then extended in 2016 to all adults regardless of their sex.
According to Public Health France, in 2015, 3.1 million tests for the detection of anti-HCV antibodies (Ab) were carried out in France in the private sector. Screening activity increased from 43 tests / 1000 inhabitants in 2013 to 47 tests per 1000 in 2015.
To note that screening activityis more important in the overseas departments (60 per 1000 inhabitants) and in particular in Guadeloupe (83 per 1000 inhabitants) than in metropolitan France.
Screening in new blood donors
In France, out of a total of 1,033,700 new blood donors over the period 2013-2015, 330 were confirmed positive for HCV. Insofar as the donation candidates knowing their HCV infection are self-excluded or are excluded from donation during the medical interview, these are probably people who did not know their infection.
The number of hepatitis C cases is decreasing
The number of hepatitis C cases in the general population in metropolitan France is tending to decrease. The number of people aged 18-80 with anti-HCV Ab and therefore having been infected with HCV was estimated at 344,500 for the year 2011. And the number of people with chronic HCV infection was estimated at 192,700.
In 2004, the figures were respectively 367,100 patients with anti-HCV Ab and 232,200 people chronically infected with HCV.
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