[Hepatitis C in Germany. More than 5000 new infections annually]

The number of people infected with HCV in Germany is estimated to be 300,000. New infections total 5100 every year, with drug consumption playing a major transmission role. Since the introduction of routine tests, the risk of contracting HCV infection from donated blood has now decreased to less than 1 in 1 million. For diagnostic purposes, antibody screening assays, confirmation assays to exclude false positive results (immunoblot), core antigen assay and nucleic acid testing are employed. An effective vaccine against HCV infection is still not available, so that prevention of transmission must continue to be the main aim of prophylaxis. In this connection, every practicing physician is expected to know his infection status for HCV, HIV and HBV.