"In conclusion, although the incidence of HCV was very low in this study among never-injecting DU, the prevalence was much higher than in the general population. In the methadone outposts of the Amsterdam Health Service, HCV screening is offered every year irrespective of recent injecting drug use. Although, we could not distinguish whether the increased risk of HCV infection in never-injecting DU was related to underreporting of injection or to household or sexual transmission, HCV strains of never-injecting DU cluster with those found among injecting DU. HCV treatment has improved substantially since 2000 and is effective in up to 80–90% of patients [3]. Therefore, whatever the route of transmission, it is clear that routine HCV testing and treatment should be extended to both never-injecting and injecting DU."
van den Berg, C. H., van de Laar, T. J., Kok, A., Zuure, F. R., Coutinho, R. A., & Prins, M. (2009). Never injected, but hepatitis C virus-infected: a study among self-declared never-injecting drug users from the Amsterdam Cohort Studies. Journal of viral hepatitis, 16(8), 568–577. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.136…
