Abstract
Testing in retail pharmacies is more likely to identify hepatitis than comparable screening in doctors’ offices, suggest the results of a pilot study in the UK. In response, health officials are urging the National Health Service to fund the outreach permanently. “We desperately need new approaches to testing that will find the undiagnosed patients,” said Charles Gore, CEO of the Hepatitis C Trust. “This pilot study shows pharmacy testing could be just what is needed.” Of the 236 tests run at pharmacies, 35 people were positive for hepatitis C and four were positive for hepatitis B. The testing took place in five areas at 19 pharmacies throughout the UK. Officials in the Isle of Wight added screening for HIV and syphilis to the pilot. “Pharmacies see a different cohort of people to [those who visit general practitioners] and therefore we can access and diagnose people who otherwise would not have been tested,” said Gary Warner, of the Isle of Wight’s Regent Pharmacy. “This scheme has woken a lot of people up to the problem of viral hepatitis, and we are now working with local drug and addiction services in a more integrated way than before,” Warner said.
Source
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Date of Publication
08/18/2010
Author
Sarah Boseley
Source
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