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Friday, January 27, 2017
News Recap
New Prisoner Hepatitis Outreach Materials and Services Announced Today!
Philip Wilkin, Chair of HepCBC’s Prison Outreach Committee, is very pleased to announce the launch of a new pamphlet, a toll-free phone “Hotline” for prisoners, and a new Hepatitis Prison Outreach webpage. The pamphlet, “Hepatitis C: Breaking Down the Bars between Prison Health and Public Health,” will be widely distributed to prisoners and their allies over the coming weeks. It invites prisoners, their families and allies, and prison-experienced individuals to contact the Committee for its services: Confidential phone or email information and support, or mailed written materials tailored to the prisoner’s needs. The people answering queries will have lived-experience with either hepatitis B or C, or inside the prison system, or both. They understand confidentiality issues, are non-judgemental, and are committed to listening carefully while doing their best to help. Most are, at this point at least, very dedicated volunteers. New: HepCBC Prison Outreach
Should We Worry?
A new report was published by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a nonprofit in Horsham, Pa., that studies drug safety. Its findings are based on the group’s analysis of the Food and Drug Administration’s database of reports from doctors around the world of adverse events that might be related to medications. However the report and the review in the New York Times are, in the opinion of many, “alarmist,” and I, personally, wonder if there is some kind of “agenda” going on here – though what it might be I have no idea. Maybe they hope to lower the prices by discrediting the drugs. The link to the news item is from the New York Times article, and at the bottom of our post we have included some comments by Alan Franciscus of the HCV Advocate and Dr. Alam. Are New Drugs for Hepatitis C Safe? A Report Raises Concerns — Updated
Meanwhile, in addition to increasing the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, researchers have found that hepatitis C virus infection is associated with an elevated risk for developing bile duct cancers and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma among older persons, as a study published in the journal Cancer has shown. Although previous research has established that hepatitis C virus infection causes hepatocellular carcinoma and subtypes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, this study examines incidences of other cancers associated with HCV. Should we worry? Yes! Hepatitis C Virus Associated With Increased Risk of Variety of Cancers
The Last Word
In this well-written and well-reasoned article, Lucinda K. Porter, RN examines some of the “giant assumptions” that society makes when it turns away from people with hep C: a) that people acquired hepatitis C from drugs, b) drug users deserve the consequences of drug use, c) treating drug users is a poor investment since they will just go out and get infected again, and d) that babies don’t get hep C. But all of these assumptions are myths, and during these extremely troubling times, we need to be extra vigilant to make sure the truth is out there! Hepatitis C and President Trump – by Lucinda K. Porter, RN