KDIGO (Kidney Disease – Improving Global Outcomes) is an initiative to develop internationally agreed guidelines for the management of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). For more information, go to www.kdigo.org.

The first guidelines to be developed deal with diagnosis, treatment and preventing transmission of Hepatitis C (HCV). The draft guidelines are now available for public review and your comments on the document, particularly the guidelines which cover preventing HCV transmission in haemodialysis units, will be very welcome.

Following the principles of the World Health Organisation, the guidelines are based on published evidence and do not take financial considerations into account (resources are considered during local implementation). For each guideline statement, the strength of the supporting evidence is given as strong, moderate or weak.

Guideline 3 deals with prevention of HCV transmission in HD units, including the actual implementation of general hygienic precautions, the role (if any) of isolation and/or use of specific monitors for HCV+ patients and dialyzer reuse The statements are mainly supported by data on the routes of transmission of blood borne pathogens together with evidence drawn from a systematic review of outbreak investigations in which nosocomial transmission was confirmed using molecular virology and the authors looked at possible infection routes.

Translations of the draft summary statements for guideline 3 are available through the links below. Please note that the guidelines are not finalised and may change as a result of the public consultation. To review the full document (available in English only) please go to: www.kdigo.org/kdigo-hepatitis-c-guideline-review. The deadline for comments is 27 July 2007.

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Thank you for your help in this world-wide project!

Dr. Michel Jadoul and Dr. Elizabeth Lindley,
KDIGO Hepatitis C in CKD Workgroup