Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in the South Asian community who are infected with genotype 3 hepatitis C.

In a Public Health England authored paper to estimate hepatitis C antibody prevalence, among South Asians overall, prevalence was 0.76% (95% Credible intervals 0.48–1.23)¹. In specific South Asian populations, prevalence was 1.91% (95% Credible interval 1.24–3.10) among Pakistanis, 0.27% (95% Credible interval 0.06–0.78) among Indians, and 0.32% (95% Credible interval 0.09–0.86) among Bangladeshis¹. Data from sentinel surveillance of hepatitis testing between 2002 and 2007 showed that the majority of South Asians with hepatitis C infected were found to be genotype 3a and this is unlikely to have changed².

¹Ross J. Harris et al., Hepatitis C prevalence in England remains low and varies by ethnicity: an updated evidence synthesis European Journal of Public Health, Vol. 22, No. 2, 187–192

²Lisa J. Brant et al Planning for the healthcare burden of hepatitis C infection: Hepatitis C genotypes identified in England, 2002–2007 the Sentinel Surveillance of Hepatitis Testing Group. Volume 48 June 2010, pages 115–119