2023-10-30 17:00:00
Hepatitis C represents an important public health problem worldwide and also in Mexico. Various epidemiological studies and national surveys indicate a prevalence of around 1.4 percent in Mexico.
There are significant differences in the north (2%) than in the south (1.5%) and the entities in the center of the country (1.1%). Although it is true that there are no direct studies on the incidence of the disease.
The number of patients treated is small
The number of patients detected and treated is still small, which is expressed in the fact that liver cirrhosis (which is the late complication of hepatitis C) is the third most common cause of mortality in men and women. the seventh in women.
In order to predict and reduce the impact of hepatitis C in Mexico, it is necessary to not only know its prevalence. According to data from the Population Council, there are 108 million 396 thousand 211 people in Mexico. Of them, 53 million 229 thousand 849 are male and 55 million 166 thousand 362 are female.
51 million of these people are in the age group between 20 and 65 years of age. The number of new cases per year in the country is estimated at about 35 thousand. For example, at the General Hospital of Mexico, 759,158 consultations were given and 327 new cases of hepatitis C were detected.
What is hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C virus is an RNA virus belonging to the Hepacivirus genus of the Flaviviridae family. Based on the nucleotide sequence and phylogenetic analysis, six genotypes have been characterized, of which genotype 1 is the most frequent in Mexico, with an approximate frequency of 75%. This type of virus is the one that most frequently has a worse evolution and responds less to treatment.
Hepatitis C has a half-life of 2.7 hours in the blood and there is a high daily production of viral particles in patients with chronic infection. Secondly, the enzyme that is responsible for replication has an approximate error rate of 10 and, therefore, a mutation rate that facilitates escape mechanisms.
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