Prevention of hepatitis C virus infection in drug users

The high prevalence and incidence rates of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in drug users demonstrate the urgent necessity for a coordinated national prevention strategy. In the shadow of HIV/AIDS the necessary attention to the rapid spreading of the hepatitis C in drug users was started late, without being able to reach the public attention level of HIV/AIDS. The present efforts in the primary and secondary prevention of the hepatitis C in drug users are obviously not sufficient to reduce the prevalence with long-lasting results. Substitution treatment is of central relevance in the prevention of hepatitis C in opiate-dependent subjects, but requires, as current data of the HCV incidence of substituted opiate dependents illustrate, a stronger HCV-specific accentuation. Further settings, which are relevant for the group of intravenous drug users, have to be accessed and sensitized. Furthermore structural and political efforts are necessary, in order to develop a systematic and evidence-based answer to the challenge of the HCV spreading in drug users, in particular due to the fact that a German HCV strategy is still lacking.