Greater HCV Treatment Needed for People Who Inject Drugs

People who inject drugs are at a higher risk of contracting hepatitis C, yet few treatment programs for the viral infection are integrated into addiction care.

A lack of treatment increases the risk of end-stage liver disease as well as further transmission and places a higher burden on the health-care system.

According to researchers, there is a need to develop and implement community-based, low-threshold hep C testing, as well as treatment services within existing addiction treatment programs.

However, there are several challenges that need to be addressed before this can happen.