High number of Hepatitis C cases in Mesa County

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. It's called the "hidden epidemic" and is more aggressive and infectious than HIV. Hepatitis C starts as a liver infection and can turn into a chronic disease.

According to The Western Colorado Aids Project, Mesa County is one of the highest counties with Hepatitis C cases in Colorado and it's on the rise. WestCAP Director Jeff Basinger estimates that 3,000 to 5,000 people in Mesa County currently have the disease.

"We have a positivity rate that ranges from 25 to 50 percent of all people we test,” said Basinger.

Read more...

Longmont Woman Cured Of Hepatitis C, Credits New Drugs

DENVER (CBS4)- A woman from Longmont has been cured of Hepatitis C during her participation in a clinical trial testing an expensive new drug.

Kim Bossley is thanking the drug Sovaldi for changing her life.

It was 2005 when Bossley learned she had Hep C. Both Kim and her mother were infected during Kim’s birth through a blood transfusion. Kim’s mother died when the disease destroyed her liver.

Read more...

Hepatitis C Outbreak ~ Lutheran Social Services ~ State of the Union Reaction

Wednesday, January 21 – A Hepatitis C outbreak in Minot has hit a number of elderly residents of a nursing home. Here to discuss Hep C and the problem of public outbreaks is Tracy Miller, state epidemiologist with the Department of Health. ~~~ We share an excerpt from this week’s Prairie Pulse television show as host John Harris visits with Jessica Thomasson, the new CEO for Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota.

Listen to the Podcast here...

Merck Will No Longer Sell its Victrelis Hepatitis C Drug in the U.S.

Rival hepatitis C drugs from Merck and Vertex Pharmaceuticals VRTX +0.21% made a big splash when they debuted in 2011, marking an advance in treatment of the liver disease and a lucrative new market segment. But now the Class of 2011 has almost sunk to the bottom, made obsolete by a newer wave of drugs, a sign of how rapidly the hepatitis C market is changing.

Merck this week notified the FDA that it will stop selling its Victrelis medicine in the U.S. by the end of this year, although the drug will remain available in other countries. The move comes three months after Vertex Pharmaceuticals discontinued U.S. sales of its own Incivek hepatitis C drug.

Both drugs are known as protease inhibitors and when they became available in 2011, they were quickly incorporated into treatment. Victrelis and Incivek each boosted cure rates and shortened treatment durations for many patients when added to the prior standard treatment.

Read more...

Snapshots —Alan Franciscus, Editor-in-Chief

Abstract: Low Risk of Liver Decompensation among Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Hepatitis C Virus-Coinfected Patients with Mild Fibrosis in the Short-Term.
  Authors: J Macias et al.  Hepatology. 2014 Dec 24. doi: 10.1002/hep.27674. [Epub ahead of print]

Results and Conclusions: The authors of this study wanted to find out which HIV/HCV patients can safely wait, or wait in the short term for treatment.  This study was conducted during the time that pegylated interferon was part of the treatment regime.  A total of 1729 patients were evaluated (683 patients by liver biopsy; 1046 by liver stiffness measurement) and followed over time. The authors concluded that patients who did not have advanced fibrosis were at “very low risk” of decompensated cirrhosis, at least in the short term.  In this population, a careful watchful waiting is appropriate—in the author’s opinion.

Editorial Comments: I find this study interesting and valuable.  But I think it is a dangerous game to play.  This is a population of patients who typically have faster disease progression—faster than people who are monoinfected.  It may be safe if people are followed very carefully.  But wouldn’t it be easier and safer to treat now and not take the chance of putting people at undue risk?

Abstract: Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Antibody Dynamics Following Acute HCV Infection and Reinfection among HIV-Infected Men Who Have Sex with Men.
  Authors:  J. Vanhommerig et al. Clin Infect Dis. 2014 Dec 15;59(12):1678-85. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciu695. Epub 2014 Sep 3.

Results and Conclusions: This study identified 63 HIV/HCV coinfected patients who had tested positive for HCV antibodies and HCV RNA (viral load).  The patients were followed for 4 years.  Five of the patients spontaneously cleared HCV and 31 of 43 patients were treated and cured.  In 36 (5 spontaneously cleared; 31 cured) the antibody titers (the measurements) declined.  In 8 of the 31 patients the HCV antibody titers disappeared. 

Eighteen of the patients were re-infected with a dif­ferent strain than the initial one and devel­oped a surge in both antibodies and HCV RNA.  The researchers believed that one patient was re-infected three separate times after the first successful treatment. 

Editorial Comments:  I couldn’t find the entire journal article to find out what type of counseling efforts were offered to the study participants.  This study, however, should remind us we need to educate people about prevention measures.  But what was interesting is that 8 people had undetectable antibody titers in this small study.  On a personal note, I did a demonstration of an HCV antibody test.  I was cured of hepatitis C more than 10 years ago.  The results showed very low reactive results.  I wonder if my antibody titers will become undetectable after time.  This study made me wonder how many ‘Baby Boomers’ became infected many years ago, naturally cleared the virus, and when tested recently had antibody titers too low to register.

http://hcvadvocate.org/news/newsLetter/2015/advocate0115_mid.html#3

Is the Promised Hepatitis C Drug War Finally Here?

Trial involving experimental medications shows six-week cure rate.

A small clinical trial has shown a combination of oral medicines can rid the body of the disease in as few as six weeks, which marks a big advancement in the treatment of hepatitis C.

The drugs included a combination of sofosbuvir and ledipasvir and one of two experimental drugs by Gilead Sciences, GS-9669 and GS-9451.

One obstacle to shorter treatments is cost. Harvoni (ledipasvir-sofosbuvir), the most recently approved rapid cure medication, costs around $95,000. The high price tag for this daily pill taken for 12 weeks poses challenges to public health insurers such as state Medicaid programs. Debates are raging surrounding who should have access to the medications and when.

Read more...

Georgia: STOP C: Presidential couple joins fight against Hepatitis C

Georgia’s President and the first lady have joined the country's new campaign to intensify the fight against Hepatitis C.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili and his pregnant partner Maka Chichua, posted a picture on the President’s official Facebook page that showed themselves posing with their hands outstretched, showing off words written on their palms that said: "STOP C”.

Georgia declared 2015 as the year of fighting against Hepatitis C.

Read more....