14/03/2023 - Research

Breaking barriers in hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment for populations at risk

A study with people who inject drugs evaluated a minimally invasive test based on dried blood spots (DBS) for the monitoring of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The use of DBS samples for HCV RNA detection and genotyping was shown to effectively assess cure after treatment and to differentiate between reinfection and treatment failure. The results support the viability of decentralizing treatment and post-treatment monitoring for people who inject drugs, who frequently face challenges accessing the healthcare system. The study has been published in the Journal of Medical Virology.

28/07/2022 - Research

A community-based intervention for the micro-elimination of hepatitis C in the Pakistani population in Catalonia

Since 2019, around 1,000 immigrants from endemic countries have participated in a new model of diagnosis and management of viral hepatitis that has been designed by the Clinical Virology and New Diagnostic Approaches Research Group of the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), in the Microbiology Service of the Germans Trial Hospital (headed by Dr. Elisa Martró), along with the Public and Community Health Team (eSPiC) of Drassanes-Vall d'Hebron International Health Unit.

07/06/2022 - Research

The IGTP and the Clinical Laboratory North Metropolitan Area are the first to publish the complete sequence of a sample of monkey pox virus

The IGTP and the Microbiology Service of the Clinical Laboratory of the North Metropolitan Area led by the researcher Elisa Martró have been the first to carry out the complete sequencing of a sample of monkey pox virus in Spain. This is a milestone in itself, but will also be fundamental for epidemiological surveillance of the infection and the study of future outbreaks as it provides a description of the genetic material of the virus.

27/09/2021 - Research

The SeqCOVID Consortium demonstrates that confinement eliminated the coronavirus variants circulating during the first wave in Spain

Scientists from the IGTP and the hospital have participated in the SeqCOVID consortium of 50 health research centres, led from Valencia. The latest study published in Nature Genetics identifies nine variants that dominated the pandemic between March and June 2020 in Spain. The Badalona team, in collaboration with the team in Valencia, detected the first case of the Alpha variant (first detected in the United Kingdom) in Catalonia in December 2020

18/09/2020 - Research

New community strategies to promote Health and screening for the micro-elimination of hepatitis C in migrants

The project is a pilot programme for the implementation and validation of the micro-elimination of Hepatitis C based on a community strategy. The validation has focussed on a migrant Pakistani population in Barcelona and the metropolitan area and is now being extended to migrants from other countries where the disease is endemic and to screening for Hepatitis B. The study unites two previously validated strategies to bring education about hepatitis (VHIR) and diagnostics (IGTP) to these vulnerable populations in the community.

27/05/2020 - Research

More efficient, reliable methods for Hepatitis C testing in vulnerable groups

In the latest installment of their work to reduce hepatitis C virus in Catalonia, and as part of the worldwide campaign to end viral hepatitis, Members of the Clinical Virology and New Diagnostic Tools Group at the IGTP have found that two diagnostic tests that can be carried out at the point of care are simple and effective methods for testing people who inject drugs, a group particlarly vulnerable to hepatitis C.

13/02/2020 - Research

The #hepCityFree movement has been launched to make cities the key area for the definitive eradication of hepatitis C

The movement is being led by some of the top experts on hepatitis C and public health at national level, including Dr Elisa Martró, leader of the Clinical Virology and New Diagnostic Tools Group at the IGTP and the Microbiology Service at the Germans Trias Hospital. The experts are aiming at cities, where there are higher numbers of people living with the virus and they are also where most new infections occur.

13/11/2019 - Research

A new step towards reaching the WHO targets to eliminate HCV infection

Researchers from the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital and Institute have developed and successfully validated a new one-step screening method to diagnose active hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in people who inject drugs. The new method  will permit better planning of future more effective actions to improve diagnostics and treatments for this vulnerable group. The study also estimated the prevalence of HCV infection in this community and showed that many people tested do not know that they are infected.

12/07/2019 - Campus Can Ruti, Institutional, Research

IGTP professionals participate in the Plan for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis C in Catalonia

This July the Government of Catalonia officially approved the Plan for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis in Catalonia, which aims to facilitate the adoption and implementation of measures to reduce the number of cases and the morbidity and mortality associated with this infection. This is in line with the goal of the WHO, which aims to eliminate hepatitis C by 2030. The plan is the result of healthcare and public health professionals, experts, representatives of scientific societies and organizations and patients and families associations all working together.

15/03/2019 - Research

Elisa Martró awarded a project for Micro-elimination of Hepatitis C by GILEAD

Elisa Martró, leader of the Clinical Virology and New Diagnostic Approaches Research Group at the Microbiology Service of the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital, has been awarded with one of the five projects granted in the First Edition of the Gilead projects for Micro-elimination of Hepatitis C in Spain and evaluated by the Spanish Liver Research Association (AEEH).