I. Screening population
1, HCV (hepatitis C virus) infection high-risk groups, including
(1) Those with a history of intravenous drug addiction.
(2) Those with a history of needlestick injuries due to occupation or other causes (tattoos, piercings, acupuncture, etc.)
(3) Those with a history of medical exposure, including surgery, dialysis, unclean oral practices, and organ or tissue transplants
(4) Those with a history of high-risk sexual behavior, such as multiple sexual partners, men who have sex with men
(5) Sexual partners and family members of HCV-infected individuals.
(6) HIV (AIDS virus) infected persons and their sexual partners
(7) Children born to HCV-infected mothers.
(8) Those whose broken skin and mucous membranes are contaminated with blood from HCV-infected persons
(9) People with a history of blood transfusion or application of blood products (mainly people who had blood transfusion or application of blood products before 1993)
(10) Those who donated plasma before 1996.
2.People who are prepared to perform special or invasive medical operations, including
(1) transfusion or application of blood products
(2) Various invasive catheters and other invasive interventions
(3) endoscopes such as gastroscopy, enteroscopy, bronchoscopy, cystoscopy, etc.
(4) Hemodialysis population.
(3) Those with unexplained abnormal liver biochemical tests, such as elevated ALT (alanine transaminase) and elevated BIL (bilirubin).
II. Screening time
1. People at high risk of HCV infection should be screened early.
2.Before performing special or invasive medical operations (including surgery).
3. Regular screening is required for long-term injectable drug users.
4. Maintenance hemodialysis patients should be screened every six months. Those with unexplained ALT elevation during switching hemodialysis centers or during dialysis should be screened promptly.
5.Infants delivered by HCV-infected mothers should be tested for anti-one HCV (hepatitis C antibody) 18 months after birth, and also for HCV RNA (hepatitis C nucleic acid) 1 month after birth.
6. For HCV-exposed people at risk of hospital transmission, such as medical personnel stabbed by contaminated needles or sharp instruments, anti-HCV should be tested immediately, HCV RNA should be tested at 2 weeks and 4 weeks, and anti-HCV and liver biochemistry (liver function enzyme profile) should be tested at 12 weeks and 24 weeks.
7. It is advisable to test anti-HCV immediately before emergency invasive examination.