'Project Serene,' HCV and HBV screening program for over-65s in RSAs

The Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery of the University of Naples Federico II presents "Progetto Sereno," an HCV and HBV screening program aimed at guests over 65 in assisted living residences and rehabilitation facilities. The initiative provides free, rapid and anonymous testing and a structured "linkage to care" pathway for eventual clinical care.

The project is scientifically coordinated by the University of Naples Federico II; scientific head is Professor Ivan Gentile, with Dr. Biagio Pinchera co-responsible, and with the scientific secretariat entrusted to Drs. Maria Michela Scirocco and Gianpaolo Gargiulo.

"In Italy, there are still many people with hepatitis C and hepatitis B who are not aware that they have it; the undeclared affects mostly those over 65. With "Progetto Sereno" we want to shine a spotlight on those who have remained on the margins of prevention, accompanying the positives on the path to treatment, ensuring benefits for the individual in terms of stopping the progression of the disease, and for the system, protecting the community by blocking the chain of infection. The goal is to contribute to the elimination of viral hepatitis by 2030, as the WHO calls for," says Ivan Gentile, director of the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery at the University of Naples.

Screening uses a capillary HCV/HBV rapid-response test via lancing device, with results available in about twenty minutes; in case of preliminary positivity, confirmation on blood in the hospital and immediate initiation of treatment according to dedicated clinical pathways is planned.

The goal is to conduct a thousand tests in a regional territory where thousands of people with undiagnosed HCV infection insist. "Having today therapies capable of eradicating hepatitis C in a percentage close to 100 percent of cases makes screening a clinical and public health investment," Gentile continues. "The benefits are immediate for the individual because progression to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma is interrupted, and collective, because the risk of transmission is reduced.

Activities will continue in participating facilities with the intention of progressively extending coverage and consolidating epidemiological data to guide increasingly targeted prevention and treatment policies.