Up to 20,000 people may have 'silent epidemic' hepatitis C

Professor Jack Lambert, Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Genitourinary Medicine at Dublin's Mater Hospital and UCD, said Ireland has had as many, if not more, new Hepatitis C infections in the past five years. Photo: Marc O'Sullivan/PA

Up to 20,000 people in Ireland may have the silent disease hepatitis C — as the State's target to eliminate the curable virus lags 21 years behind schedule, according to campaigners.

Ireland faces an uphill battle to overcome the disease by 2030 due to a "lost cohort" of cases, a top professor has warned.