Hepatitis C reaches record levels as blood disease spreads

THE Lothians is on course to break more records for the number of people contracting hepatitis C, figures have shown.

In the first three months of the year, 82 people were diagnosed with the blood disease, a trend that would see more than 300 affected by the end of 2011. That is significantly more than last year, and double the number of a decade ago.

The vast majority of patients have contracted the illness through injecting drugs, and in many cases the disease has lain dormant for several years.

Health chiefs say that the rise is attributable to improved rates of diagnosis, rather than simply more people catching it. The prognosis for patients has also dramatically improved in recent years, and in many cases it can be cured.

Edinburgh was heavily affected by hepatitis C in the 1980s. Many of those people who caught the disease only found out years later.

Around 4000 people in the Lothians are affected.

The figures were released by Health Protection Scotland as part of a wider report on the matter.