infohep, Published:12 June 2018
The reduction in new hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections that has taken place in Scotland since 2008 is most likely due to increased provision of needle and syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy, rather than a reduction in the number of people with hepatitis C as a result of increased treatment of HCV infection, a modelling study published in the journal Addiction reports.
Researchers from the University of Bristol and three Scottish universities developed a model of the Scottish HCV epidemic to test the impact of varying levels of harm reduction provision.