Treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus infections
AUTHORS : Abalakin V.A.
RELEVANT UNIVERSITIES : Federal State Institution Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor, Moscow, Russia
YEAR : 2005
The hepatitis C virus (HCV) was discovered in the late 1980s, but it has probably been circulating in the human population for a long time. The
polymerase chain reaction for the detection of this virus in blood was developed in the early 90s; in Russia it has been widely used for screening the population since
the late 90s. As the number of people examined in Russia increases, the number of carriers of this virus is growing. It has been established that the virus is mainly
(90% or more) transmitted by syringe injections. It has been proven that sterilization of reusable syringes by boiling did not prevent the transmission of the
hepatitis C virus. Disposable syringes have been widely used in Russia since the mid-90s, the use of only disposable syringes prevents the transmission of this virus
among people, so the largest number of carriers of the virus can be expected
among people older 10-15 years old.
