A young woman \u2013 jeans and boots and wild hair \u2013 is sitting in a cubicle in the Accident and Emergency department of the Royal London Hospital as a junior doctor swishes back the curtain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just going to take some blood,\u201d says Dr Emma Wallis.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust one?\u201d asks the patient, spying the paraphernalia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, we\u2019ll take a few bottles because you\u2019ve had some palpitations so we need to test your kidneys, thyroid function and blood levels in general. Then this week in A&E, we\u2019re offering everyone the chance of having an HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C test. Is that okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
The young woman looks confused and mildly irritated.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like having blood taken as it is, one is enough, are you going to take loads?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, it\u2019s really easy, just one blood test, then we fill up the bottles and it\u2019s just that much \u2013\u201d the doctor pinches about an inch \u201c\u2013 extra blood needed. You wouldn\u2019t notice it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah I don\u2019t mind, yeah, okay\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Wallis pulls out a syringe, siphons the blood and, with only that small amount of time and effort, adds one more patient to a landmark project that could change how we respond to the three of the most common life-threatening viral illnesses.<\/p>\n
The pilot project involves offering this triple test for a week to all patients already having blood tests in ten A&Es in England and Scotland. It seeks not only to find undiagnosed people, but also to provide a crucial snapshot of how many, and who, might be living with HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Are the carriers in the populations we expect? Are the existing assumptions about the numbers affected correct? Or is there, as suspected by some, many more people affected, and in unforeseen groups?<\/p>\n