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Review
. 2022 Jun 2:13:884598.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.884598. eCollection 2022.

Feasibility of Hepatitis C Elimination in China: From Epidemiology, Natural History, and Intervention Perspectives

Zeyu Zhao  1   2 , Meijie Chu  1 , Yichao Guo  1 , Shiting Yang  1 , Guzainuer Abudurusuli  1 , Roger Frutos  2 , Tianmu Chen  1
Affiliations
Review

Feasibility of Hepatitis C Elimination in China: From Epidemiology, Natural History, and Intervention Perspectives

Zeyu Zhao et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Hepatitis C imposes a heavy burden on many countries, including China, where the number of reported cases and the incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) increased yearly from 2005 to 2012, with a stable trend after 2012. The geographical distribution of HCV infections varies widely in China, with the northwest and southwest regions and the Henan Province showing a high disease burden. Elderly, men, sexually active people, drug users, migrants, blood transfusion recipients, and renal dialysis patients have become the target populations for hepatitis C prevention and control. It is important to improve the diagnosis rate in high-risk groups and asymptomatic people. Identifying secondary HCV infections, especially in HCV patients co-infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a priority of hepatitis C prevention and control. Enhancing universal access to direct antiviral agents (DAAs) treatment regimens is an effective way to improve the cure rate of HCV infection. For China to contribute to the WHO 2030 global HCV elimination plan, strategic surveillance, management, and treatment program for HCV are needed.

Keywords: elimination; epidemiology; hepatitis C; interventions; natural history.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Monthly reported number of new cases, deaths, incidence, and death rates of hepatitis C in China, 2005–2017. Orange line in plot (A) used left axis represents new cases, and blue line used left axis represents death cases of hepatitis C virus (HCV) per month reported by Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Plot (B) is the rate calculated by new cases and death cases in plot (A) after adjusting for population.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of new cases and incidence of HCV infection reported in China in 2017. Plot (A) represents the HCV cases reported by China CDC in 2017. Plot (B) represents incidence rate calculated by the population of each province in China.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Incidence of reported HCV infection in different age groups in China, 2004–2017. The reported incidence rate by different age groups was obtained from a website (https://www.chinacdc.cn/).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of HCV genotypes in China. The color of map background adopts a square legend, indicating proportion genotype 1a of HCV to all genotype in each province. Pie charts represent the proportion of five genotypes of HCV in each province.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Natural history of HCV infection in humans. People with different colors indicate the infection status of HCV. The solid lines represent the transition of each status, and the numbers above them represent the transition ratio or time. The dotted lines indicate the main transmission routes. “High” means the main transmission route, and “low” means the secondary route.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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