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Update of Hepatitis C in Colombia

  • Tropical Diseases in Colombia (A Restrepo, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

The goal is to describe the epidemiology, disease burden and detection, available therapies, and current challenges to access care for people with chronic hepatitis C infection in Colombia.

Recent Findings

There are no detailed statistics about the prevalence of HCV in Colombia; nonetheless, majority of patients with hepatitis C are infected with genotype 1 and having received blood products before 1996 represents the main risk factor. The use of intravenous drugs has started to be recognized as a population at risk that is in increment. Direct-acting antivirals became available in 2016 in Colombia thanks to a centralized purchase program with the Pan American Health Organization.

Summary

There are well-established guidelines for the use of available antivirals for all disease stages and genotypes and sustained virologic response (SVR) rates are 95 to 100%. Underdiagnosis, access and linkage to care, and disease stigmatization have contributed to a low number of patients that have actually completed their therapy.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Orlando Immunology Center, University of Central Florida, 1707 N Mills Avenue, Orlando, FL, 32803, USA

    Federico Hinestrosa

  2. Liver Transplant and Hepatology Group, Hospital Pablo Tobón Uribe, Medellín, Colombia

    Juan Ignacio Marín, Octavio Muñoz Maya, Oscar Santos & Juan Carlos Restrepo

Authors
  1. Federico Hinestrosa
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  2. Juan Ignacio Marín
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  3. Octavio Muñoz Maya
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  4. Oscar Santos
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  5. Juan Carlos Restrepo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Federico Hinestrosa.

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Conflict of Interest

Federico Hinestrosa reports grants, as well as research and a speaker honorarium from Gilead Sciences, grants, as well as research and a speaker honorarium from Abbvie Inc., grants from Brystol Myers Squibb for research, a speaker honorarium from Merck Sharp & Dohme, and a speaker honorarium from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, outside the submitted work. Juan Ignacio Marín, Octavio Muñoz Maya, Oscar Santos, and Juan Carlos Restrepo declare no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Tropical Diseases in Colombia

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Hinestrosa, F., Marín, J.I., Muñoz Maya, O. et al. Update of Hepatitis C in Colombia. Curr Trop Med Rep 5, 133–137 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40475-018-0147-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40475-018-0147-5

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