HCV Trends in Italy beauty treatments. This supports the hypothesis that the prevalence of HCV infection will decrease signiﬁcantly over the next 2 decades (44). Identiﬁcation of HCV-pos- itive persons for appropriate counseling and manage- ment is the major focus of a national prevention pro- gram, and routine testing is recommended for persons likely to have an HCV infection (45). Since an active im- munization against HCV is still not available, precaution in medical settings, blood screening, sexual educational campaigns and hygiene campaigns for drug-addicts are the most powerful control measures necessary to reduce the prevalence of this infection, which represents a main goal of public health services. Acknowledgments None declared. Financial Disclosure None declared. Funding/Support None declared. References 1. Kim WR. The burden of hepatitis C in the United States. Hepatol- ogy. 2002;36(5 Suppl 1):S30-4. 2. Yenen S. Hepatitis C virus. 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