UKHSA announces new effort to tackle hepatitis C

The agency has launched a whole genome sequencing service to monitor the virus

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has announced the launch of a whole genome sequencing service to tackle hepatitis C virus (HCV).

The service is aimed at monitoring drug resistance, detecting outbreaks sooner and improving efforts against harder to treat viral strains.

The launch comes after the UKHSA published new data indicating a major decline in chronic HCV infections across England, with the number of people aged over 16 years with chronic HCV falling by 56.7% since 2015.

The drop is largely due to NHS England’s HCV Elimination Programme, which has increased testing and access to direct acting antivirals (DAAs) with improved treatment efficacy.

Despite the improvements, data from 2023 showed that 5% of subtype 1a samples from patients who have not received treatment before were resistant to one class of HCV antiviral drugs.

Additionally, some HCV subtypes prevalent in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and also found in England demonstrate inherent resistance to some DAAs.

HCV is a blood-borne virus that can cause life-threatening liver disease and cancer. Those infected are usually asymptomatic until many years later, when their liver has already been badly damaged.

Monica Desai, Hepatitis C Lead at UKHSA, said: “Early diagnosis and effective anti-viral drugs have played a huge part in driving down [HCV] in this country, but we must always be alert to the emergence of resistance putting progress in jeopardy.

“Through our genomic surveillance programme we can monitor changes in how the virus is responding to treatment and more quickly respond if resistance increases.”