Case Management in Hepatitis C Virus Infected People Who Inject Drugs in Belgium

Hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) is nowadays one of the leading causes of chronic liver disease, with prevalence of liver cirrhosis still increasing. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is primarily transmitted through blood-to-blood contact. In the Western world, overall prevalence of HCV antibodies is low. In Belgium, prevalence of HCV in the general population is estimated around 1% by expert opinion. However, in high-risk populations prevalence of HCV increases. Data for HCV antibody prevalence in Belgium show rates of 60-80% in people who inject drugs (PWID). Populations at increased risk of HCV infection include:

• PWID
• recipients of infected blood products or invasive procedures in health-care facilities with inadequate infection control practices (western world: before 1992)
• children born to mothers infected with HCV
• people with sexual partners who are HCV-infected
• people with HIV infection
• prisoners or previously incarcerated persons
• people who have used intranasal drugs
• people who have had tattoos or piercings

Based on international guidelines, the Belgian Association for the Study of the Liver (BASL) recommends targeted screening for these populations to assess HCV prevalence. This is not yet executed in Belgium, despite the severe health and economic burden accompanied with chronic hepatitis C virus infection (CHC). In response to this lacuna in the Belgium health care, the "Hepatitis C Plan (2014-2019)" was developed. This action plan aims to improve the following goals:

• Uptake for screening in high-risk populations
• Creation of a national systematic screening procedure
• Development of an HCV expertise network to improve care and linkage-to-care Furthermore, in April of 2015 the federal government of Belgium distributed a pact with the pharmaceutical industry, called "The Future Pact". This pact between industry and government focuses on accessibility to care, specifically for high-risk groups. Goals are to create a national registry for therapy and develop patient support programs, next to the expansion of reimbursement of therapy for HCV infection in fibrosis stadium II. However, despite the international guidelines and despite the strategic aims in the Hepatitis C plan and the Future Pact, no specific actions are described, and screening is not systematically executed in high-risk groups in Belgium.

The importance of this screening cannot be underestimated as HCV is now curable, with success rates of 60-100% according to other associated factors (e.g. use of direct acting antivirals (DAAs), severity of liver disease, HCV genotype, resistance). Furthermore, different studies state that treatment of patients with CHC in an early stage has the potential to be cost-effective, as hospitalization costs after development of liver disease far exceed the cost of antiviral therapy. Nonetheless, treatment uptake also remains low.