Hepatitis C: key points

• The hepatitis C virus was first identified in 1989 and an antibody test to detect its presence became available in 1991.
• In resource rich countries hepatitis C is usually transmitted among injecting drug users who share injecting equipment.
• In resource poor countries hepatitis C is usually transmitted through the receipt of infected blood / blood products.
• Those affected by hepatitis C often have no symptoms, but in the long-term the infection may progress to liver cirrhosis.
• Around 50,000 people living in Scotland have been infected with hepatitis C, with less than 50% of whom have been diagnosed.
• No vaccine is available, but treatment clears the virus in 50-60% of cases.
  

Key statistics:

	Males	Females	All
Number of cases diagnosed in 2008	1,155	556	1,735 (1)
Prevalence (%) in 2008	0.55%	0.29%	0.43% (2)
Total number of cases diagnosed by end 2008	17,078	8,013	25,363 (3)
Number of deaths in 2008	n/a	n/a	n/a
% people surviving 5 years after diagnosis	n/a	n/a	n/a
Lifetime risk of developing hepatitis C (all ages)	n/a	n/a	n/a
Lifetime risk of developing hepatitis C (from age 50)	n/a	n/a	n/a

Notes:
(1) Includes 24 cases where gender was not known.

(2) Assumes that 13% of diagnosed cases had died by the end of 2008.

(3) Includes 264 cases where gender was not known.

McLeod A, Hutchinson S, Codere G, Goldberg D. Surveillance of known hepatitis C antibody positive cases in Scotland: Results to 31 March 2009. HPS Weekly Report; 43 (2009/18): 286-293.  (547KB)

 

Section updates: The last major update of this section was completed in June 2009. The next major update is due to be carried out by end June 2010.