Il SerD come Point of Care per infezione da HCV: è possibile

Abstract

Introduction: The Addictive Behaviour Centre (Ser.D.) of Bergamo has been in the frontline to tackle HCV infection in patients who use drugs over the last few years. Methods: Several initiatives have been implemented, from the HCV screening performed for the IST screening and by using finger tests, up to the prescription of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) in the Ser.D. point of care. Results: out of 584 patients tested for HCV Ab for the IST screening, 15,4% resulted positive, out of 191 patients tested for HCVRNA, 43,5% resulted positive. Out of 186 patients tested by the use of finger tests for HCV Ab, 18,8% resulted positive, while of the 303 patients tested by HCVRNA finger test, 21,5% was positive. 94 patients were found eligible for DAAs treatment: 31 already started the treatment, while 15 are going to start in the next months. Conclusion: The access to HCV care for people who use drugs has been improved by the introduction of point of care testing and the DAAs treatment in the Ser.D. of Bergamo. Unfortunately, there are still barriers to treatment that need to be addressed for this vulnerable group of people.