Prisoner with visitor

2m Read

September, 11 2024

COMMUNITY AND GLOBAL HEALTH

Impact Story

HCV Treatment Drastically Improved by Faster Prison Testing in the U.K.

Il trattamento dei detenuti che risultano positivi all’HCV è una parte fondamentale dell’iniziativa globale per eliminare la malattia, perché contribuisce a ridurre i tassi di infezione all’interno e all’esterno delle carceri.

 

The current standard pathway for testing, which takes two to three weeks to get the result, is too slow, and many inmates are released from prison before starting treatment.

 

Providing access to a simplified test-and-treat pathway through point-of-care HCV RNA testing with Xpert® HCV VL Fingerstick provides results in less than an hour.

 

"The sooner you can get somebody diagnosed and onto treatment, the better it is for that individual and for the community inside and outside the prison.”

 

Ashley Brown, consulente epatologo presso l’Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust e la HMP Wormwood Scrubs Prison

 

According to Ashley Brown, Consultant Hepatologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and HMP Wormwood Scrubs Prison, implementing the GeneXpert® system as part of the HCV testing pathway enabled the institution to know the status of new inmates in one day instead of two to three weeks.

 

“It meant 60% more prisoners were able to achieve that treatment period,” Brown notes. “When we follow them up, the vast majority are achieving clearance of the virus, and it is modifying their behaviour, making them less likely to take additional risks."

 

Using the GeneXpert system at the Wormwood Scrubs prison allowed inmates to find out if they had an HCV active infection on the same day as they were tested. I detenuti che risultano positivi al test iniziano il trattamento entro quattro giorni dalla diagnosi, migliorando considerevolmente l’iter terapeutico e incrementando significativamente il numero di degenti che iniziano il trattamento.

 

Watch to learn how point-of-care testing simplifies HCV's diagnostics pathway in prisons.

 

UK Prison Testing Pathway Infographic

Cepheid’s testing solution provides medically actionable information to healthcare professionals, enabling same-day testing and treatments for infectious disease management.

 

Learn more about the GeneXpert® system.

CE-IVD. Dispositivo medico diagnostico in vitro. Potrebbe non essere disponibile in alcuni Paesi. Non disponibile negli Stati Uniti.

 

Riferimenti bibliografici:

 

Z.Mohamed, et al. Time matters: Point of care screening and streamlined linkage to care dramatically improves hepatitis C treatment uptake in prisoners in England. Int J Drug Policy. 2020 Jan;75:102608. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31759307/

 

Point-of-Care Testing Simplifies the Diagnostics Pathway for Hepatitis C in Prisons. Video accessed 24 maggio 2024. https://youtu.be/eiZiHNeJn7g

 

Read Next

ALTRO

Powered by Translations.com GlobalLink OneLink SoftwarePowered By OneLink