The Middle East and hepatitis C virus infection: does it need special attention?

The Middle East has many issues regard ing security, economics, and health especially. Some countries in the Middle East are involved in civil wars, greatly exacerbating these issues. Viral hepatitis, especially hepatitis C virus (HCV), is a major health concern in the Middle East, with the region categorised as having a high prevalence of HCV infection (>3·5%). Egypt has the highest prevalence of HCV in the world (>15%). Pakistan and Azerbaijan, which neighbour the Middle East, also have a high prevalence of HCV infection. In recent years new treatment strategies have provided an opportunity to eliminate HCV infection. However, some major issues concerning HCV still need to be addressed worldwide and in the Middle East particularly, such as the cost of new drugs and the diffi culty of identifying patients with HCV infection. We present some strategies that might give people in the Middle East a better chance of identifying and treating HCV infection. First, global communities and international organisations should help to stop conflicts in the Middle East, which have an adverse effect on the health status of the region. Second, governments should aim to achieve complete health insurance coverage and allocate part of their budgets to help ensure that all patients with HCV infection can access new drugs to treat For the Hope Health Club see http://www.en.hopehealthclub.ir empirical ceftriaxone in about twothirds of gonorrhoea infections in Australia. In summary, the results of this study provide compelling new data supporting the use of a molecular test to guide individualised treatment of gonorrhoea with ciprofl oxacin.