Results of a screening campaign for hepatitis C viral infection in a Brussels hospital : do we need to go further?

We read with attention the letter of Xavier Verhelst in the last issue of Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica evaluating the results of a screening campaign in Lendelede (1). Patients undergoing blood examination were offered anti-HCV screening, further HCV RNA evaluation and hepatology consultation if indicated. During one year, 560 patients were screened in a single center. Of those, 5 patients (0.9%) had antibodies against HCV. Positive RNA was evidenced in 3 patients (0.5%) and two of them were referred for antiviral treatment. Thanks to those data, the authors highlight the need of screening campaigns for HCV infection in Belgium (1). We also performed a screening campaign for HCV infection in our hospital. We proposed an HCV screening through a simple finger-stick test without any questionnaire to people (patients, visitors or health care providers) who were present in the main hall of our academic hospital during one day (April 25, 2018). Of 200 volunteers who had been tested during one day, 3 were positive (1.5%). All three patients (one woman and two men) explained that they were already aware of their status (one patient with a previous failure of interferon therapy, one with a previous effective antiviral treatment and another who did not provide any further information). All were middle-age people (50-60 years). There were no newly diagnosed cases and no subsequent antiviral treatment.