Numbers

Hepatitis B

• Sciensano’s latest surveillance report on the hepatitis B virus dates from 2018.
• At the time, the sentinel laboratories reported 2,116 new cases of active infection (non-exhaustive data).
• These infections mainly affected men (56%) and people in the 25-44 years old age group (53%).

Hepatitis C

In the general population

• Sciensano’s latest surveillance report on the hepatitis C-virus dates from 2016. 
• At that time, the annual incidence of hepatitis C was estimated at 1,500 cases (13.6 per 100,000 citizens). The prevalence of HCV remained highest in men, with an average age of 45-49 years old.
• In 2019, a study published by Sciensano among others, estimated the seroprevalence of HCV in the general Belgian population at 0.22% and the prevalence of chronic HCV infection at 0.12%. 
• In 2020, the Belgian HCV coalition estimated that 18,000 people in our country are infected with hepatitis C and that each year, no less than 300 patients die as a result of their disease.

In the target groups

• In 2019, 253 people who used injectable drugs and high-risk opiate users took part in a study by Sciensano’s illegal drugs unit and underwent an HCV rapid test. The total unweighted sample average for HCV antibodies was 41.1%. The weighted estimations were around 43.5%. 
• In the same year, Sciensano participated in a multicentre interventional cohort study in Belgian prisons. In total, 886 prisoners were tested in 11 Belgian prisons. The prevalence of HCV antibodies was 5.0%, HCV RNA 2.1% and hepatitis B surface antigen 0.8%.
• A retrospective (2009-2018), multicentre study of people with HIV was published in 2021. Of the 4607 people tested, 7% tested positive for HCV antibodies and 6.3% for HCV RNA.

In 2021, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported the following:

Hepatitis B:

• a crude infection rate of 4.7 cases per 100,000 citizens
• an overall male-female ratio of 1.4:1
• a higher percentage in the 35-44 years age group
• a declining trend in the number of acute cases, probably as a result of the national vaccination programmes
• heterosexual transmission as the most frequent means of transmission (30%) for acute cases, followed by transmission between men who have sex with men (16%) and nosocomial transmission (12%).

Hepatitis C:

• a crude infection rate of 4.1 cases per 100,000 citizens
• an overall male-female ratio of 2:1
• a higher percentage in the 35-44 years age group for men and in the 25-34 years age group for women
• injection drug use is the most frequent means of transmission (61% of the acute cases and 70% of chronic cases).

According to the World Health Organisation:

• In 2019, 296 million people worldwide were living with chronic hepatitis B, with approximately 1.5 million new infections per year
• In 2019, hepatitis B caused approximately 820,000 deaths, primarily through cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. (WHO, Hepatitis B)
• In 2019, 58 million people worldwide were living with chronic hepatitis C, with approximately 1.5 million new infections per year
• Hepatitis C caused approximately 290,000 deaths, primarily through cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (WHO, Hepatitis C).