Strategies for hepatitis C testing and linkage to care for vulnerable populations: point-of-care and standard HCV testing in a mobile medical clinic.

Despite new Hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapeutic advances, challenges remain for HCV testing and linking patients to care. A point-of-care (POC) HCV antibody testing strategy was compared to traditional serological testing to determine patient preferences for type of testing and linkage to treatment in an innovative mobile medical clinic (MMC). From 2012 to 2013, all 1,345 MMC clients in New Haven, CT underwent a routine health assessment, including for HCV.

Vaccinating adolescents in high-risk settings: lessons learned from experiences with hepatitis B vaccine.

Meeting the health needs of adolescents who live in high-risk settings such as homeless shelters, migrant camps, juvenile detention centers, prisons, and other types of residential facilities presents many challenges. Although there is no doubt that adolescents in many high-risk settings are at increased risk for hepatitis B and human papillomavirus, acute medical and psychological problems may consume all of the provider's time and resources. Potential health threats such as vaccine-preventable diseases must necessarily be given lower priority.

Surveillance programs for chronic viral hepatitis in three health departments.

Although chronic hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis C are diseases of public health importance, only a few health departments nationally have chronic viral hepatitis under surveillance; these programs rely primarily on direct reporting by medical laboratories. We conducted an evaluation to determine if lessons from these programs can guide other health departments. Between December 2002 and February 2003, we visited the Connecticut Department of Public Health, the Multnomah County Health Department in Portland, Oregon, and the Minnesota Department of Health to determine the capacity of their chronic hepatitis registries to monitor trends and provide case management.