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Project

Insights into the HCV epidemic in Belgium

Belgium is one of the European countries that lacks a registry for HCV infection that is imperative to inform prevention and control interventions. It is unknown how many new HCV infections occur in HIV-positive and –negative IVDU, MSM and other risk groups in Belgium or how many are imported by migrants and travellers. Although HCV cure could be a realistic goal for most patients eligible for DAA treatment, it is still uncertain whether the roll-out of DAA in Belgium will have a profound impact on the size and dynamics of our local HCV epidemic. Indeed, it is estimated that more than 50% of the people living with HCV are not aware of their infection status and will therefore not seek medical help, nor adequately change their behaviour to prevent potential onward transmission. Additionally, being aware of their HCV status and receiving treatment does not preclude people from persisting their risk behaviour which could lead to reinfection or onward transmission of resistant variants. In the current PhD project, we will determine predictors of DAA-induced HCV clearance and identify how HIV and HCV lineages are restricted to or mix among different geographic, demographic and behavioural subgroups and to identify and characterize long-standing and active infection clusters and transmission chains. To this purpose, a sensitive, accurate and reproducible HCV full-genome sequencing system that can be applied to all major genotypes will be developed and validated.

Date:1 Feb 2018 →  30 Jan 2024
Keywords:Full-genome sequencing, HCV, Transmission Analysis
Disciplines:Microbiology, Systems biology, Laboratory medicine
Project type:PhD project