Surveillance of HCV infection in the Netherlands

S S Chaves; M A Widdowson; A Bosman

doi:10.2807/esm.08.05.00411-en

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Surveillance of HCV infection in the Netherlands
S S Chaves¹ , M A Widdowson^1,2 , A Bosman
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Affiliations: ¹ Department of infectious disease epidemiology, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, RIVM, The Netherlands ² Fellow of the European Program for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), RIVM, The Netherlands

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Citation style for this article: Chaves S, Widdowson M A, Bosman A. Surveillance of HCV infection in the Netherlands. Euro Surveill. 2003;8(5):pii=411. https://doi.org/10.2807/esm.08.05.00411-en

Abstract

Two surveillance systems exist in the Netherlands to monitor hepatitis C (HCV) infections. Aggregated weekly laboratory data have been available since 1990. In 1999, HCV infection became a notifiable disease. Data showed the number of reported cases has remained stable. Male cases predominated (66%), mainly between age 15 to 54. Injecting drug use was the main route of transmission (64%). Despite its added value, the notifiable system should include more clinical data to better scrutinize future changes in transmission patterns.