Associated screening for HCV and SARS-Cov2 infection in an urban area of Southern Italy: A cohort study.

Abstract

The SARS-Cov2 pandemic led to reorganize the clinical activities in Italy, reducing the available resources to manage other diseases. In particular,important milestones achieved towards HCV elimination are now at risk of being nullified. Moreover, the burden of SARS-Cov2 asymptomatic carriers remains still an unresolved issue. To associate those two screenings, in order to respond to these clinical needs seems of actual interest. A prospective cohort study was set-up in an urban area of the Naples province, in which a contemporary screening for HCVAb and SARS-Cov-2-Ab rapid blood tests was performed. Of the 3556 eligible subjects,2740(77.05%) participated.Of them,1.4% resulted SARS-Cov2-positive, none resulting positive for SARS-Cov2-RNA, whereas 1.5% were HCVAb-positive and 0.18% HCVRNA-positive. Of those HCVAb positive,87.8% were already aware and treated in 88.8% of cases .Of the other 4 patients aware of their positivity,2(50%) were HCVRNA-positive. Of the 5 HCVAb-positive unaware of their positivity, 2 were HCVRNA-positive. HCVAb-positivity was only detected in patients of >41 years. The screening in an urban area of Southern Italy showed a seroprevalence of SARS-Cov2-Ab and HCV-Ab of 1.4% and 1.5%, respectively,whereas 0.18% had an active HCV infection. This demonstrates how the pandemic can be an opportunity to promote prevention activities for HCV.