[Epidemiology of hepatitis C]

The hepatitis C virus (HCV) has spread in a silent way by blood transfusion, then was massively introduced in the intravenous drug user community and is now recognized as a potential nosocomial viral infection. In France the prevalence of HCV seropositivity is around 1.1% with 500,000 to 650,000 persons affected, among whom 80% are chronic carriers of the virus. The proportion of HCV seropositive patients who knew their HCV serostatus increased from approximately 20% in 1994 to around 50% in 1998. The prevalence of HCV infection varies by region (1.7% in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur), increases with age, particularly after 50 years among women. The residual risk associated with transfusion is currently 2.7 per million blood donations, transmission among drug users remains high despite harm reduction measures and nosocomial transmission has been increasingly documented. In 1997, 1,800 deaths associated with hepatitis C occurred in France.