The dollars and sense of chronic hepatitis C infection management

We have observed major advances in opportunities for HCV treatment in the recent years; however, there are a number of economic and practical challenges to reducing the burden of HCV infection in Canadians. As an infectious diseases community, we will need to advocate on behalf of HCV-infected patients for access to optimal therapies to cure their infection. Due to focus of care in subspecialized clinics in many cases, infectious diseases specialists at large in Canada, with a few exceptions, have traditionally had a limited role in the management of HCVinfected patients. Given the prevalence of HCV infection and current availability of highly effective therapies, we believe that HCV management can no longer be considered to be a 'subspecialty' within infectious diseases. The onus is on all adult infectious diseases specialists to actively contribute to reducing the burden of HCV infection in Canada.