EMERGENCY PREVENTION OF HCV INFECTION – REALITY AND PERSPECTIVES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11603/1681-2727.2019.1.9944Keywords:
acute hepatitis C, chronic hepatitis C, accident in the workplace, emergency preventionAbstract
The aim of the study was to analyze the state of the problem of emergency HCV infection prevention in case of parenteral contact with the source of the pathogen as a result of an accident in the workplace (in a medical institution).
It was noticed that this problem had been remaining very relevant for almost 20 years, and the emergency HCV infection prevention is generally denied or technically prohibited, which is reflected in the official regulatory documents of modern administrative medicine in most countries, including economically developed states. There is still no trend towards solving this problem, despite its high relevance, the high risk of unpleasant consequences, and the fact that this issue primarily concerns health workers, which make up the majority of the victims, trapped on their own to deal with the risk of acute HCV infection development. Instead of the real aid, it is offered by the state medicine to simply «carefully wait» for the development of acute HCV infection with a 50–90 % risk of its transition to a chronic form! In fact, this is a deliberate and legitimized inactivity.
At the same time, over the past 20 years, the problem of treating acute HCV infection remains unresolved, even despite the fact of the emergence of the highly effective direct-action antiviral drugs and their combinations. The state of the problem is still at a stage of «serious concern» with no practical decisions. There are only recommendations that basically do not go beyond the officially legitimized expectation of «spontaneous recovery» or of the chronic HCV infection development. The presence of fragmentary and vague recommendations for acute hepatitis C etiotropic treatment also does not solve the problem. Moreover, it is strongly recommended that the victim (the patient) has to decide on receiving the individual antiviral therapy on their own or with the help of a physician. And, here the state medicine, medical institutions, where the accident has occurred, and insurance companies are left sideways, thus the potentially infected medical worker has to solve the problem on their own again! Therefore, the passivity of the medical workers and their «tacit consent» seems unreasonable, taking into account that the infection directly affects their health and, in the long run, even their lives.
Such a situation is completely absurd and even criminal, and therefore requires an urgent resolution of the problem! In the presence of a broad set of effective antiviral drugs, such inactivity on the part of the state medicine and on the part of the health workers themselves should be considered unwise and even criminal.
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