Viral hepatitis C in Hong Kong

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection can lead to serious liver disease. Its medico-socio-economic burden on society can be immense. This study investigates the epidemiology of HCV infection in Hong Kong.

Data from the Department of Health, relevant publications from Medline search and data from two acute hospitals were reviewed.

The prevalence of anti-HCV among voluntary blood donors is stable, remaining at approximately 0.035-0.099% over the past 10 years, and is higher in the older age group. Among the high-risk groups, the anti-HCV prevalence is as follows: (1) hospital patients 0.8%, (2) intravenous drug users 46.0%, (3) patients infected with HIV 7.9%, (4) children with transfusion-dependent hematologic disease 16.3%, (5) patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis 1.8%, patients on hemodialysis 16.4%, recipients of kidney transplants 6.2% and (6) patients with hepatocellular carcinoma 7.3%. Among blood donors, 58.8% were infected with HCV genotype 1b and 27.0% with genotype 6a. Genotype 6a is particularly common among intravenous drug users.

Hong Kong has a low prevalence of HCV infection. Patients are mostly infected through transfusion with blood or products prior to the introduction of anti-HCV screening to the blood transfusion service. Illicit drug use constitutes another significant risk. Since 1997, there has been a great increase in population movement between China and Hong Kong which might affect the epidemiology of HCV infection.