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Friday, September 8, 2017
News Recap:
She thought her mystery ailment was cancer, but bloodwork revealed a surprise
This is an amazing story …but it could happen to anyone, and we know this because we hear these kinds of stories often. This is why it is so important that Boomers be tested for hepatitis C. Gail Wells got really sick and nobody could figure out why. They looked for cancer, for multiple sclerosis, for vitamin deficiencies, and then she was diagnosed with idiopathic degenerative neuropathy – nerve deterioration for no apparent reason, and told to keep active but she couldn’t.
HCV treatment found safe and effective in individuals with kidney disease
A new study indicates that direct-acting antiviral therapy is safe and effective in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The study, which appears in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), also found that treatment may help improve some patients’ kidney function. CV infection – which often causes liver disease – is common in patients with CKD, and it increases their risk of progressing to kidney failure.
Fibrosis Faster among Men with HCV, Study Finds
In chronic hepatitis C infection, longer duration of infection and genotype 1 infection are independently associated with slower progression of disease, according to researchers in Canada. Their meta-analysis – an update of the group’s 2008 study – also revealed that male sex and blood transfusion are associated with faster progression.
Sharing injection paraphernalia does not lead to HCV transmission
New findings suggest that sharing paraphernalia used to cook and prepare injection drugs does not directly lead to transmission of hepatitis C virus. This contrasts with past epidemiological studies that reported HCV incidence linked to sharing “cookers” and filters.
People Who Use Drugs Require Prioritisation Not Exclusion in Efforts to Eliminate Hepatitis C
An international conference bringing together hepatitis C experts from around the world is today calling for strategies to prioritise people who use drugs, saying hepatitis C elimination is impossible without them. “The number of people around the world dying from hepatitis C is increasing. We have the tools to reverse this trend, to eliminate this disease and save millions of lives.
Risk for hepatocellular carcinoma after HCV antiviral therapy with DAAs: case closed?
This new article by Raoel Maan and Jordan J. Feld will be published in Gastroenterology (2017), 052 It is in press, but courtesy of HCV New Drugs we are able to provide you with a pdf of the accepted manuscript. Several studies of patients treated with interferon -based therapy nicely documented that the risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was markedly lower in patients who achieved SVR compared to those without SVR.