Village-to-village screening for hepatitis B and C using quantitative HBsAg and anti-HCV testing with reflex HCV core antigen tests in the remote communities of a resource-rich setting: a population-based prospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Community-based screening for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) is essential for hepatitis elimination. This study attempted to increase screening accessibility and efficacy by using alternative tools.

Design

Population-based prospective cohort study.

Setting

Hepatitis elimination program at Yunlin County, Taiwan.

Participants

All 4552 individuals participated in 60 screening sessions of a community-based HBV and HCV screening project in five rural townships with approximately 95 000 inhabitants in central-western Taiwan.

Interventions

To increase accessibility, 60 outreach screening sessions were conducted in 41 disseminative sites. Quantitative HBV surface antigen (qHBsAg) and anti-HCV testing with reflex HCV core antigen (

SUBMITTER: Chang TS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8264874 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature