Laboratory confirmed new diagnoses of hepatitis C infection (HCV) reported in England rose by more than one-third to 10,873 cases in 2012.
In London, which accounts for 26% of all hepatitis C cases reported in England in 2012, cases have almost trebled to 2,844 cases in 2012, up from 954 in 2010. The figures, which were released in the annual hepatitis C report produced by Public Health England (PHE), confirms that around 160,000 people are living with chronic HCV in England – many of whom are unaware of their infection. Across the UK more than 215,000 individuals are thought to be chronically infected. In the UK, the greatest risk of HCV is through sharing equipment for injecting drugs. Data from the Unlinked Anonymous Monitoring (UAM) survey of people who inject drugs suggest that levels of infection in this group remain high in 2012, with around half of those surveyed in England being infected. To help reduce the levels of sharing, needle and syringe programmes continue to be developed throughout the UK and latest figures from national surveys of people who inject drugs across the UK suggest that levels of sharing are falling. Others at risk of hepatitis C include those who have received blood transfusions before September 1991 or blood products before 1986 in the UK.
