Scaling up treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United Kingdom could in half the number of new cases among that population, aidsmap reports. Researchers conducted a modeling study based on data from the UK Collaborative HIV Cohort (UK CHIC) and presented their findings at the 50th International Liver Congress in Vienna, Austria.

There is an epidemic of sexually transmitted hep C among MSM in Europe, North America and Australia. About 8.6 percent of HIV-diagnosed UK MSM are coinfected with HCV.

If annual HCV treatment amounted to 80 percent of all MSM infected with hep C for less than a year, as well as 20 percent of those infected for longer, this would lower the hep C prevalence to below 3 percent by 2025. New cases of HCV among MSM would be cut in half, to fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 per year.

To read the aidsmap article, click here.

To read the presentation slides, click here.