The Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver (CASL) has issued updated guidelines for Hepatitis C.

Who should be screened?

The new guidelines recommend offering Hepatitis C testing to baby boomers and people with the following factors:

• “history of current or past (even once) injection drug use”
• “received health care or personal services where there is a lack of infection prevention and control practices”
• “received a blood transfusion, blood products or organ transplant before 1992 in Canada”
• “history of or current incarceration”
• “born or resided in a region where HCV [is relatively common] such as the following: Central, East and South Asia; Australasia and Oceania; Eastern Europe; Sub-Saharan Africa; North Africa or the Middle East”
• “born to a mother who is HCV-infected”
• “history of sexual contact or sharing of personal care items with someone who is HCV-infected”
• “HIV infection, particularly men who have sex with men (MSM)”
• “received chronic hemodialysis treatment”
• “have elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT)”

The guidelines note that in certain populations at high risk for HCV, such as people who inject street drugs and MSM, screening for HCV should be offered “at least once per year.”

More info available here.