The Week in Review: Dec 14 – Dec 21, 2018

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.

Friday, Dec 21, 2018

News Recap:

***COMMUNITY DINNER January 10th at OUR PLACE in HONOUR of PHIL WILKIN***
Philip Wilkin, who passed away unexpectedly on Nov. 24th, 2018, was a man with the true spirit of giving. Phil sat on various committees designed to improve health and welfare of prisoners within the Canadian Prison System, and actively advocated for education, treatment and prevention. To help celebrate his achievements, HepCBC has set up a GoFundMe page to collect $1000 to host a COMMUNITY DINNER at OUR PLACE Thursday, January 10th from 5-6 pm.

Hepatitis C course starting in January
CATIE is offering a Hepatitis C Basics course, through eduCATIE+, tailored for the Pacific region (British Columbia and the Yukon). CATIE’s Hepatitis C Basics blended learning course aims to provide foundational knowledge of hepatitis C, covering topics such as hepatitis C transmission, testing, treatment, prevention and health literacy.

Cirrhosis of the liver a ‘silent epidemic’ among young adults, women
Who gets cirrhosis of the liver? You might be surprised. A new Ontario study has found cirrhosis rates are increasing the fastest among young adults. An epidemic of fatty liver disease is being pointed to as one possible cause for the spike. Once considered a disease of older men, the face of cirrhosis of the liver is changing, say the authors of the study published in the journal The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology on Thursday.

NZ: Pharmac to fund new Hep C treatment
Up to 50,000 people are expected to benefit from the funding of a new treatment for those with hepatitis C. Drug-buyer Pharmac today announced that from February it’ll fund the drug Maviret for those with hepatitis C regardless of the type of hepatitis they have.

New strains of hepatitis C found in Africa
The largest population study of hepatitis C in Africa has found three new strains of the virus circulating in the general population in sub-Saharan Africa. The research from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research and collaborators suggested that certain antiviral drugs currently used in the West may not be as effective against the new strains.