Awareness and Access to Therapy in Hepatitis C Virus Infected Patients Key Barriers to Eliminate the Virus?

摘要

Antiviral therapy with direct-acting antiviral (DAA) for patients infected by hepatitis C virus (HCV) has made a remarkable progress, enabling more patients eligible for treatment compared to interferon era. Indeed, DAA treatment with high efficacy and safety is an important major component of global strategy to eliminate HCV infection until 2030, proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The epidemiological and clinical characteristics related to HCV infection largely differ among regions and countries. Even in a region or country, these characteristics might be different between two time periods which are divided by introduction of DAA. Thus, it is relevant to figure out which characteristics are clinically significant in post-DAA period compared with pre-DAA period to help implement an effective program for HCV elimination.