Low Hepatitis C Virus Prevalence among Men Who Have Sex with Men Attending Public Health Services in The Netherlands

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence is high among men who have sex with men (MSM) with HIV in the Netherlands. Large reductions in HCV incidence among MSM with HIV, however, have occurred since treatment with direct-acting antivirals. Over the years, a broader understanding of the HCV epidemic has shown that HCV infections are not solely restricted to MSM with HIV, but they also occur among HIV-negative MSM. Currently, HCV testing among HIV-negative MSM is only provided for PrEP users and is not part of routine sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening among HIV-negative MSM who are no... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Popping, Stephanie
Haspels, Sabine
Gotz, Hannelore M.
van der Meijden, W. C.J.P.M.
van den Elshout, Mark
Rijnders, Bart J.
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2023
Reihe/Periodikum: Popping , S , Haspels , S , Gotz , H M , van der Meijden , W C J P M , van den Elshout , M & Rijnders , B J 2023 , ' Low Hepatitis C Virus Prevalence among Men Who Have Sex with Men Attending Public Health Services in The Netherlands ' , Viruses , vol. 15 , no. 12 , 2317 . https://doi.org/10.3390/v15122317
Schlagwörter: /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being / name=SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27225930
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://pure.eur.nl/en/publications/e01b3a63-9a11-48b5-a569-6667d4c936b2

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) prevalence is high among men who have sex with men (MSM) with HIV in the Netherlands. Large reductions in HCV incidence among MSM with HIV, however, have occurred since treatment with direct-acting antivirals. Over the years, a broader understanding of the HCV epidemic has shown that HCV infections are not solely restricted to MSM with HIV, but they also occur among HIV-negative MSM. Currently, HCV testing among HIV-negative MSM is only provided for PrEP users and is not part of routine sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening among HIV-negative MSM who are not using PrEP. In this study, we screened 1885 HIV-negative MSM who did not participate in a PrEP program, with over 1966 STI screening visits at four different public health clinic sites. Among the 1885 MSM, only one person had a new HCV infection, resulting in a 0.05% (95% confidence interval 0.0–0.3) incidence. Based on our findings, we can conclude that systematic HCV testing at STI clinics may not yield significant benefits for this particular population.