The Week in Review: March 10, 2017 – March 17, 2017

This page is an archive. Its content may no longer be accurate and was last updated on the original publication date. It is intended for reference and as a historical record only. For hep C questions, call Help4Hep BC at 1-888-411-7578.

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Friday, March 17, 2017

News Recap

Top of the news this week is a report from Cheryl Reitz who has just embarked on another Outreach Road Trip to BC’s rural, remote, and First Nations communities.  The report this week covers Lytton, Spences Bridge and Cache Creek. The report is very detailed and we have included a slide show. Rural/Remote/Indigenous Hepatitis C Outreach 2017 – Part 1

Other News:
Will they ever learn? Many years ago several seniors in a hospital in Florida were infected this way because inserting the syringe into the intravenous line caused a back pressure leak that forced solution into the syringe, and this infected solution was then shared. The news item from many years ago has disappeared, but many HCV advocates remember this event. If you have the source please contact us at HepCBC. Meanwhile here’s the latest: Inappropriate syringe reuse led to hep C transmission in Texas hospital, CDC says

If you have liver cancer and can get a liver transplant then chances are you can be cured with the new DAA’s – but only if you survive the transplant and the cancer doesn’t come back. DAAs Promising for HCV Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The problem is that not everyone is going to get a liver transplant (think globally on this one), and most people are not going to get cured because treatment is still inaccessible for most people (think 3rd World, think poverty, think drug pricing).  And because hepatitis C also mutates rapidly, researchers now think that the only way to cure everyone is with a vaccine. Hepatitis C mutations ‘outrun’ immune systems, lab study shows and Developing HCV Vaccine May Be Possible by Exposing Virus to Immune System Attack

Uh-oh
Do you have cataracts? Did you ever take interferon? Hmmmm. The authors of a recent study concluded that “HCV infection, even without the complication of cirrhosis, is associated with an increased risk of cataract, and this risk is higher in HCV-infected patients undergoing interferon–ribavirin therapy.” Increasing risk of cataract in HCV patients receiving anti-HCV therapy: A nationwide cohort study

Coming Up Next Week!

HepCBC will have Info booths at the following: