Warning to Scots against hep C as health chiefs vow to eradicate 'silent killer'

RESIDENTS in the west of Scotland at risk of hepatitis C are being urged to get tested against the “silent killer”.

The number of new cases of the infection diagnosed in the Greater Glasgow area have risen in a year by about 5% - from 623 in 2013 to 656 last year.

It is estimated that overall 37,000 people have hep C in Scotland – 20,000 diagnosed and 17,000 undiagnosed.

About 40% of Scottish cases are in the Greater Glasgow area.

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Scotland: Scots patients first in UK to hepatitis C ‘cure’

HEPATITIS C sufferers in Scotland are the first patients in the UK to be given access to a new treatment that cures up to 99 per cent of cases in eight or 12 weeks.

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has accepted for use Harvoni for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C which affects one in every 100 people in Scotland and causes more than 20 per cent of all liver transplants.

Approximately 50,000 people in Scotland are infected with hepatitis C, which can cause liver cancer or liver failure – equivalent to around 1 per cent of the Scottish population.

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