Establishing a Road Map for Accelerated Diagnosis and Treatment of HCV Infection in the United States

Issuing agencies

Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces a two-day convening hosted and facilitated by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) to discuss hepatitis C diagnostics. Leaders from public health, laboratory, medical, academic, and industry sectors will have the opportunity to provide individual input, without building a consensus, on accelerating the diagnosis of current hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Members of the public with interest and expertise in diagnosing HCV infection are also invited to provide individual input. Specifically, the convening will focus on how to leverage the following hepatitis C diagnostic methods: same-day diagnosis and treatment, and viral-first testing. The goal of the convening will be for each person to give their individual input, and not to build consensus. No discussions, recommendations, or advice to CDC will occur or be provided at the meeting. Day 1 will focus on the utility of point-of- care (POC) testing for accelerating same-day HCV diagnosis and rapid treatment i.nitiation. Day 2 will focus on the utility of viral-first testing strategies for accelerating HCV diagnosis and treatment initiation in the United States. Following the meeting, APHL will prepare a meeting report summarizing the discussion and public comment received through regulations.gov, developed and documented as individual input to ensure thorough and complete input from partners. CDC and APHL will disseminate the APHL-prepared report as a reference for partners and industry to follow in developing and implementing future hepatitis C testing strategies. The final report will be added to docket CDC-2025-0002 once it is available.