Hepatitis C cases rise in Czech Republic amid hidden infections

In the Czech Republic, hepatitis C often remains undetected for years. A patient recounts being shunned after her diagnosis, while health officials note that from January to June 2024, 952 cases were reported, up from 711 in the same period of the previous year, with a total of 1,447 diagnoses for the year. Experts stress that the disease can be transmitted through sharing injection equipment, unsafe tattooing or piercing, mother‑to‑child transmission, and, in about 5 % of cases, sexual contact, dispelling the myth that it only affects people who use drugs.

Eurostat data show that deaths from hepatitis in the EU fell to a historic low of 3,172 in 2023, but millions remain unaware of their infection. Italy records the highest mortality rate (1.62 per 100,000), followed by Latvia and Austria. While the number of newly identified hepatitis C cases in the EU rose from 23,273 in 2022 to 28,622 in 2023, authorities attribute this to increased testing rather than faster spread. Only about 23 % of hepatitis B infections are diagnosed in the European region, and treatment reaches just 4.2 % of those cases, highlighting the ongoing challenge of hidden liver disease across Europe.