Hepatitis C cases reach record level in Lothians

THE number of people diagnosed with Hepatitis C in the Lothians has reached record levels.

A total of 333 people were diagnosed with the condition last year – more than twice as many as a decade ago.

Cases have risen from 276 in 2010, and 202 in 2009.

Health experts welcomed the news, however, and said it proved that efforts to increase awareness and testing for the illness were paying off.

The spread of Hepatitis C has been called the Silent Epidemic, because sufferers can in some cases have virtually no symptoms for up to a decade. Early symptoms, which include depression, fatigue, skin problems, insomnia, pain and digestive disorders, are also often misattributed to other causes.

Twenty per cent of sufferers clear the virus from the body within six months of infection, but the rest develop a long-term condition which can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, liver cancer or end-stage liver disease.

In February, patients in the Lothians were among the first to be offered the option of two new drugs which it is hoped will help cure more people.

A scheme last summer also put up posters in pub and club toilets across the Capital warning of the dangers of hepatitis C, explaining how the disease can be caught, and advertising support groups.

There are more than 3700 people living in the Lothians who are known to have Hep C but Scottish officer for the Hepatitis C Trust, Petra Wright, said the true figure for infections was probably double the official figures.

She said the rise in reported cases was partly down to the introduction of testing at drug outreach projects in 2009, and the introduction last year of the Scottish Government’s Sexual Health and Blood Borne Viruses Framework.

“We welcome the increase, because it shows that the action plan is working,” she said.

“We can also see that they’re diagnosing a lot of people in the younger age groups of 40 and under, and that shows the targeted testing is working, but more needs to be done to get the Baby Boomers, born between 1945 and 1965, who’ve been at risk in the past, tested.”

The best-known risk factor for Hepatitis C infection is intravenous drug use, but steroid users and those who have had tattoos done abroad or at unlicensed events are also at risk.

Hepatitis C, along with HIV, is the subject of the public inquiry being carried out by Lord Penrose into patients who were infected by NHS blood products.