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Infection rates range from 9.6% to 41.1%
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) rates in America’s prisons and jails are high, largely because this is where many people with high-risk behaviors such as injection drug use end up. But in order to help reach the World Health Organization goal of elimination of HCV, this population needs more screening and treatment – not only to help people with the infection, but also to reduce the risk of transmission.
It’s not a straightforward issue. Many of these patients have addiction problems that need to be addressed, and treatment capacity at correctional facilities varies, as does accessibility to specialist medical care. In most cases, incarcerated patients lose coverage with Medicare or Medicaid, leaving coverage up to departments of corrections, noted Matthew Akiyama, MD, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, N.Y., whose main area of research focus is the HCV care cascade within, and post-release from, corrections.
The population size involved is not trivial: The rates of HCV infection in incarcerated populations are reported to be, on average, 17.4%, adding up to tens of thousands of people, Akiyama told MedPage Today. There also tends to be more extensive substance use disorder – severe “to the point where they engage in criminal activities to support their habit,” highlighting the importance of also treating substance use disorders, he said.
Read more: https://www.medpagetoday.com/reading-room/aga/lower-gi/67336