Film Puts Hep C in the Spotlight

A film to raise awareness and increase knowledge of hepatitis C among GPs and other primary care practitioners has been launched today by the Royal College of GPs (RCGP),the Hepatitis C Trust and HCV Action.

Hepatitis C affects around 214,000 people in the UK and the virus can lead to liver disease and cancer, making it a significant public health issue.

With 90% of all patient contacts in the NHS conducted by GPs and their teams, it is likely that patients with hepatitis C will at some point be treated in general practice and wider primary care services, yet guidance from both the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Public Health England suggests that more needs to be done to raise awareness levels among primary care professionals.

Editor's note:  The link to the film in the article is bad.  Please use this one instead: http://hcvaction.org.uk/resource/film-detecting-managing-hepatitis-c-primary-care

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USA-Lack of Insurance Bars Some from Hepatitis C Treatment

Survey data from 2001 to 2010 show that lack of insurance kept some people with hepatitis C virus from getting treatment.

Recently, more effective and well-tolerated drugs have been developed to treat hepatitis C, removing many of the discouraging side effects of older drugs. The infection is curable and transmission can be prevented, researchers write in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

But for the more than three million people in the U.S. who have chronic liver disease from hepatitis C, there are still two important barriers to getting treatment, said lead author Dr. Ivo Ditah from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

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Dubai-New oral drug can cure hepatitis C

Dubai: In what is being hailed by health practitioners as one of the biggest discoveries in five decades in the field of medicine, an international pharmaceutical company has discovered a powerful antiviral drug to treat the deadly disease hepatitis C that will soon be available in the UAE.

Experts in the medical field reacted with excitement at this breakthrough development. “We are very excited and thrilled by this discovery which has far-reaching implications,” said a senior doctor from a leading hospital group in Dubai. ”The mechanism by which this oral drug eliminates the virus in the affected population could hold the key to similar anti-viral medication to eliminate many viral diseases such as other forms of hepatitis, Ebola and, one day, even HIV.”

Dr Chacko George, specialist in Internal Medicine at RAK Hospital, said: “In the case of hepatitis C, 20-30 per cent of the people recover and about the same percentage get chronic liver disease or become carriers and even suffer from cancer. If there is an antiviral drug that can eliminate the virus in about 97 per cent of the first-timers and 93 per cent of those treated earlier, then it is one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history of treatment of this disease. This would mean that with this treatment, the infected person will be able to maintain an infection-free state or have such weak copies of the virus which won’t be able to replicate. It would mean a tremendous advancement in the treatment of the disease. It is discoveries like these that keep our medical appetite for discoveries alive.”

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