Hepatitis C -- The Long Goodbye

The long goodbye is often used to describe the drawn out fading of a person's mind, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

But for my mom, it was because of Hepatitis C.

My mom worked as a hospital lab technician for most of her career. She remembered accidentally sticking her hand, with the contaminated needle of a sick patient.

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HCV increases mortality among patients with CKD

Veterans with chronic kidney disease and hepatitis C virus infection were found to have an increased rate of mortality, risk of lower kidney function and incidence of loss of kidney function vs. veterans without the infection, according to new study data.

“Hepatitis C affects 4 million Americans [and] previous studies have not established unanimously whether hepatitis C is associated with the development and progression of chronic kidney disease,” Csaba P. Kovesdy, MD, director of the Clinical Outcomes and Clinical Trials Program at Memphis VA Medical Center in Tenn., told Healio.com/Hepatology. “[The study] examined the association of hepatitis C infection with mortality, with the development of new onset chronic kidney disease, with end stage renal disease and with the speed of loss of kidney function in over 1 million U.S. veterans. We found that hepatitis C infection was associated with a significantly increased risk of all these end points.”

Molnar MZ, et al. Hepatology. 2015;doi:10.1002/hep.27664.

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Sanders Asks VA to Break Patents on Gilead and AbbVie Hep C Drugs

The ongoing debate over the cost of prescription drugs took another twist as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) has asked the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to use emergency powers to break – or override – the patents on high-priced hepatitis C medicines sold by several drug makers, including Gilead Sciences.


The prices have caused a firestorm as both public and private payers complain the treatments are straining their budgets. Sanders notes the VA stopped enrolling veterans who need treatment for hepatitis C due to budget constraints. The agency has already reallocated $400 million on hepatitis C drugs, but needs additional funding.

“I cannot think of another situation where the government-use provision [of the law that allows the VA to break the patents] should be applied,” Sanders wrote in a letter to Robert McDonald, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary. “Our nation’s veterans cannot, and should not, be denied treatment while drug companies rake in billions of dollars in profits.”

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Lake County Health Department Holds Free Hepatitis Health Fair on May 19

In observance of National Hepatitis Testing Day, the Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center (LCHD/CHC) will host a free hepatitis health fair in conjunction with Abbvie, Orasure Technologies, Walgreens, Salix Pharmaceuticals, American Liver Foundation Great Lakes Division, the YWCA Lake County, GlenLake Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and the Lake County Stands Against Stigma Coalition. The event will take place on Tuesday, May 19, in the lobby of the County Building, 18 N. County Street in Waukegan, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that everyone born between 1945 and 1965, in the Baby Boomers generation, get a blood test for hepatitis C. This recommendation calls for one-time testing of Baby Boomers.

Program staff will provide information and education about hepatitis B and C prevention, care and treatment. Free blood pressure screenings will be offered. Participants can also receive general information related to overall health and wellbeing. Free hepatitis C and HIV tests will also be offered at the LCHD/CHC Sexually Transmitted Infections program's (STI) office the day of the event at 2400 Belvidere Road in Waukegan. Please call 847-377-8450 for more information.

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Pa. Law Prohibits Needle Exchanges That Can Save Lives

Tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians crave daily injections of heroin. Beyond the threat of overdose is the threat of being exposed to HIV and hepatitis C, both deadly and expensive illnesses that are easily spread through contaminated needles.

But in Pennsylvania, distributing sterile syringes is a criminal act.

For years, Dianna Pagan feared that giving out clean syringes in Reading would land her in jail. Officials there recently agreed to let her needle exchange operate, though she’s faced numerous setbacks for more than a decade, including being shut down following the threat of prosecution.

Read more: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/health/Pa-Law-Prohibits-Needle-Exchanges-That-Can-Save-Lives-303210321.html#ixzz3ZnJgqziW

UK: NHS denies lifesaving drug to 5,000 patients it gave infected blood: Sofosbuvir has been approved by regulators but victims are STILL waiting for treatment

• Thousands of victims were infected by hepatitis C through imported blood 
• Breakthrough drug Sofosbuvir was approved by regulator NICE in January 
• But NHS England is delaying treatment for patients until at least August 

Thousands of patients who contracted a deadly disease through contaminated blood in the biggest scandal in NHS history are being denied a lifesaving drug.

About 7,500 victims are known to have been infected with hepatitis C in the 1970s and 1980s through imported blood products taken from high-risk donors such as prostitutes and prisoners.

A breakthrough drug called Sofosbuvir was approved in January by drugs regulator NICE and patients were told they would have to wait until April to get the ten-week course of tablets, which costs £45,000. 

But NHS England has decided on a further delay until August to ensure all patients have equal access to treatment.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3075151/NHS-denies-lifesaving-drug-5-000-patients-gave-infected-blood-Sofosbuvir-approved-regulators-victims-waiting-treatment.html#ixzz3ZhNPqkvn

The VA’s Hepatitis C Problem

Martin Dames is a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. He received the Bronze Star for heroism in the combat zone and three Purple Hearts for injuries he suffered while fighting. He made it out alive, only to find out years later that those combat wounds got him infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), a deadly blood-borne pathogen discovered in 1989 that claims about 19,000 lives annually, a large number of them veterans. That number is growing every year.

A chronic infection in around 80 percent of cases, HCV often shows no signs of its corrosive presence until extensive liver scarring occurs after decades of infection. In some cases, the disease isn’t found until it has led to cirrhosis—advanced and potentially lethal amounts of scarring. Infection with the virus is a leading cause of liver cancer and transplants in the U.S.

Some 3.5 million Americans are infected, including an estimated 234,000 veterans. Approximately 174,000 veterans in government care have been diagnosed with hepatitis C, but an additional 50,000 are thought to carry the infection unbeknownst to them. For treatment, those veterans who know they are sick must go to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its health care services extension: the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the largest provider of hepatitis C care in the nation. The VHA serves nearly 9 million patients at over 1,700 sites, but as Dames and many other veterans.

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