Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), Division of Communicable Diseases, Berne, Switzerland.
Swiss Med Wkly. 2013 May 17;143:w13793. doi: 10.4414/smw.2013.13793. eCollection 2013.
Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are contagious liver diseases caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the hepatitis C virus (HCV), respectively. In particular, chronic infection with HBV or HCV is a major public health problem throughout Europe. The majority of persons chronically infected (65%-75%) are not aware of their infection status until symptoms of advanced liver disease appear. In addition, the peak in the number of patients suffering from advanced stages of the disease, such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, has not yet been reached. In order to reduce the current and future morbidity and mortality associated with chronic HBV or HCV infection, the timely detection of chronically infected persons, with follow-up and case management, is crucial. However, the current screening strategies in Europe and Switzerland have to be considered as inadequate to detect the majority of chronically infected persons. Hence, we emphasise the importance of an alternative approach: the healthcare provider initiated identification of HBV or HCV infection in defined risk groups. This entails determining whether a person is not only at risk of being chronically infected, but also at risk of becoming infected with HBV or HCV and, if necessary, testing for HBV or HCV infection.
乙型肝炎和丙型肝炎分别是由乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）和丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）引起的传染性肝脏疾病。特别是，慢性乙型肝炎或丙型肝炎感染是整个欧洲的一个主要公共卫生问题。大多数慢性感染者（65%-75%）直到出现晚期肝病症状才意识到自己的感染状况。此外，患有肝硬化和肝细胞癌等晚期疾病的患者人数尚未达到高峰。为了降低与慢性 HBV 或 HCV 感染相关的当前和未来发病率和死亡率，及时发现慢性感染者并进行随访和病例管理至关重要。然而，目前在欧洲和瑞士实施的筛查策略被认为不足以发现大多数慢性感染者。因此，我们强调另一种方法的重要性：医疗保健提供者在特定风险群体中主动识别 HBV 或 HCV 感染。这需要确定一个人不仅有慢性感染的风险，而且有感染 HBV 或 HCV 的风险，如果有必要，还需要检测 HBV 或 HCV 感染。
