A project has begun to cut the number of drug abusers in Tayside suffering from hepatitis C.
There could be as many as 5,000 people in the region with the infection, which can cause long-term liver cirrhosis and even lead to cancer.
Dundee University and NHS Tayside have joined forces to target people who inject drugs, because sharing contaminated needles is the most common way of passing on the virus.
The hope is by giving them early treatment it will prevent them becoming seriously ill or spreading the infection to others.
The £2.2 million project is being funded by the Scottish Government and the drug companies Janssen and Roche.
“Hepatitis C is a disease which consumes a significant amount of resource in the NHS,” said Dr John Dillon, who is leading the team.
“The general thinking in recent times has been that the population of people who inject drugs is generally too unstable and consists of people with lives which are too chaotic to allow for the sort of sustained treatment that hepatitis C needs to achieve a cure.
“However, our view is that with the right approach, supported with appropriate resources, we can tackle what is a very significant problem and reduce the rates of hepatitis C infection.”
The Hepatitis C Trust, a charity that raises awareness of the illness, said last year the rate of diagnoses in Tayside had been rising in recent years and there were almost 2,500 people known to have the illness.
However, it warned that a similar number could be affected but undiagnosed. There are also thought to be around 4,000 people in Fife with the virus.
The illness has major implications for public health and for NHS budgets and the Tayside project is being watched with interest by the Scottish Government to see if it can point the way to new treatment methods.
Dr Dillon and colleagues hope to recruit 100 patients with hepatitis C over the next five years. They will be enrolled in a programme of treatment delivered through existing frontline specialist services.
Patients will be supported in a variety of ways, including mobile phone reminders to take their medication.
Dr Dillon said: “It is a treatment that requires support and dedication but we think that, done properly, it could have a marked effect on infection rates and, consequently, significant benefits in terms of health and cost to the health services.”