[Hepatitis C in Poland in 2007].

In 2007, with 2753 new cases of hepatitis C (by definition cases with clinical signs or elevated liver function tests only), the incidence (6.5 per 100,000) was comparable to observed in the previous year (2949 new cases with the incidence rate 7.7 in 2006). There were 132 deaths due to hepatitis C. The cause of death in 128 cases was chronic stage of hepatitis C and the other 4 deaths were the result of the acute hepatitis C. In 2007 the number of cases of newly detected HCV infection reported was 10,242, which corresponds to the rate of detecting HCV of 26.9 per 100,000 population. The observed rate increased by 14% in comparison to 2006, but this increase is likely to be due to surveillance artifact as data on newly detected cases are only collected at national level since 2006. Hepatitis C remains a major problem of public health in Poland.