Epidemiology of Occult Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Patients Born Before 1969 in the Hospital Setting: a Spontaneous Opportunistic Screening Initiative.

Epidemiology of Occult Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Patients Born Before 1969 in the Hospital Setting: a Spontaneous Opportunistic Screening Initiative.

The goal of this monocentric prospective observational study is to evaluate the prevalence of unknown hepatitis C virus chronic infection in general population born before january 1st 1968 in Italy.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

what is the prevalence of hepatits C virus infection in general population born before January 1st, 1968? What rare the characteristics of these patients compared to the general population? What is the prevalence of patients tested HCV positive who are referred to the Hepatology Outpatient Clinic for further evaluation? What is the prevalence of patients with HCV infection detected during the study and treated with direct antiviral agents during follow up?

Participants will be tested with a point of care screening test (Meridian, Bioscience) able to detect anti-HCV antibodies to detect the presence of antibodies against HCV.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients born before January 1st 1968 who lived in Italy referred to any departments of the Policlinico A. Gemelli

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients born after january 1st 1968
• Known infection of hepatitis C virus
• Previous treatment against hepatitis C virus