Acute HCV in the prison population

这一临床核心的目标是提供大量来自急性/早期丙型肝炎病毒感染者的PBMC样本，使整个协作中心的研究人员能够进行大规模的免疫学参数研究。 这一核心的资金将使马萨诸塞州监狱系统能够继续识别急性/早期丙型肝炎病毒感染。理由包括每年有大量年轻注射吸毒者进入监狱系统，因此他们面临感染丙型肝炎病毒的风险。传统上，急性丙型肝炎病毒的识别依赖于症状或实验室异常，而不是暴露史，但我们之前的资助时期建立了一个基于病史风险因素的系统，以筛查早期丙型肝炎病毒感染。这份简短的1-2分钟问卷旨在帮助提供者识别最近通过注射吸毒感染丙型肝炎病毒的风险人群。马萨诸塞州监狱系统的成功实施在短时间内发现了大量急性丙型肝炎患者。此外，该项目还极大地加强了纵向样本采集。这是首次对进入监狱系统的人中的急性丙型肝炎进行系统研究，提供了关于囚犯中急性丙型肝炎的总体流行率、临床特征和治疗结果的关键信息。 来自这一临床核心的资金将允许该协作中心的两个成员继续使用这一独特而有价值的资源，并允许与研究这笔赠款没有直接解决的问题的其他小组合作。

The goal of this clinical core is to provide high numbers of samples of PBMC from subjects with acute / early phase HCV infection, allowing large-scale studies of immunologic parameters for investigators throughout the collaborative center. Funding of this core would allow continued identification of acute / early stage HCV infection in the Massachusetts State Prison system. Rationale includes the high number of young injection drug users entering the prison systems yearly, who are therefore at risk for HCV infection. The identification of acute HCV had traditionally been reliant on symptoms or laboratory abnormalities rather than exposure history, but our prior funding period established a system based on history-based risk factors to screen for early-stage HCV infection. This brief 1-2 minute questionnaire was designed to assist providers in identifying persons at risk for recent acquisition of HCV by injection drug use. The successful implementation in the MA state prison system identified a large number () of persons with acute HCV over a short period of time. In addition, longitudinal sample acquisition was greatly enhanced by this project. This represents the first systematic study of acute HCV among persons entering the prison system, providing critical information regarding the overall prevalence, clinical characteristics, and treatment outcomes of acute HCV in incarcerated individuals. Funding from this clinical core would allow continuation of this unique and valuable resource for both members of this Collaborative Center as well as allow collaboration with other groups examining questions not being addressed directly by this grant.