A screening program for hepatitis C infected in the Primorje-GorskiKotar County and Istria County

Author: Mikolašević I., Hrstić I., Milić S., Ivančić A., Butković M., Mozetić V., Kandžija V., Bressan L., Gović-Golčić L., Kožljan M., Komparić N. , Mijić A., Stevanović T., Delija B., Čiča B., Dumančić I., Benček F., Zović I., Stošić M., Vuksan I., Medur K., Knez L., Georgev P., Iljadica D., Šimić T., Demaria M., Palčevski D., Štimac D.

Abstract:

Family medicine physicians are the first to check the patients and are therefore extremely important in detecting infected patients and referring them to specialist or subspecialist outpatient clinics. One of the approaches aimed at achieving theearliest possible detection is testing and diagnosing hepatitis C at the primary health care level. The initiative for launching the project titled „The Project of Screening of Hepatitis C Infectious Diseases in Primorje-GorskiKotar and Istria counties was adopted at the symposium „Gastroenterology in Family Medicine“ in April 2017. The project started in May 2017 at the family medicine offices of the Primorje-GorskiKotar and Istria counties. Through interdisciplinary collaboration between the Croatian Gastroenterological Society, the Coordination of Croatian Family Medicine Physicians (KoHOM), the health centers of the Primorje-GorskiKotar and Istria counties, University Hospital Center Rijeka, General Hospital Pula and the School of Medicine of the University of Rijeka, the objectives of the project were: coveringthe general population of the Primorje-GorskiKotarand Istria counties; determining the actual incidence of chronic hepatitis C virus infection; validation of a questionnaire to detect those at risk of chronic hepatitis C virus infection who need to be tested; management of detected patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection as soon as possibleand treatingthose who were found to suffer from chronichepatitis C virus infection.

Key words:
family medicine doctors; interdisciplinary; project; screening