Hepatitis C News

The Dutch government has been taking comprehensive steps to deal with HCV. In November 2015, they ruled to treat all patients with HCV, regardless of age, cirrhosis or fibrosis status, risk profile, injection drug use status or sexual orientation. As part of the national HIV guidelines, all individuals with HIV are screened for hepatitis C. The strategies go hand-in-hand, with one overarching aim: treatment as prevention. The goal is to stop transmission of HCV cold. Because men who have sex with men (MSM) with HIV are at the highest risk for transmitting the disease, they placed particular emphasis on testing and treating that population.

By most objective measures, implementing universal screening in baby boomers has been suboptimal. In the estimation of many experts, it has been a failure. This failure is frustrating because the end zone — eradication of HCV altogether — feels tangible in the DAA era. But despite the setbacks, talk of universal screening for HCV persists.

Adults with diabetes treated for hepatitis C who achieve sustained virologic response after treatment with direct-acting antiviral agents experienced decreased HbA1c and decreased insulin use compared with those who did not achieve sustained virologic response, study data show.

Risk factors associated with hospitalization within 6 months following liver transplantation included age, hepatitis C, diabetes, high BMI and poor renal function, while race and liver donation after cardiac death affected mortality risk, according to recently published data. Each hospitalization within the first 6 months after liver transplantation increased mortality risk by 22%.

The direct-acting antiviral combination of grazoprevir, ruzasvir and uprifosbuvir, with or without ribavirin, for either 16 or 24 weeks was safe and effective for patients with hepatitis C who had previously failed NS5A inhibitor-containing treatment, according to results of two phase 2 studies.

Recently published data showed a link between sustained virologic response and a reduced risk for hepatocellular carcinoma among patients treated with direct-acting antivirals for hepatitis C.

The standard schedule of hepatitis B vaccination was safe and showed good immunogenicity among patients who were already infected with hepatitis C virus, according to recently published findings from China.

Late diagnosis of hepatitis B and hepatitis C has declined over time among patients with decompensated cirrhosis and those with hepatocellular carcinoma, according to a recently published study. Further, patients with more regular physician visits and lower risk activities were diagnosed earlier.

In the direct-acting antiviral era, researchers and medical professionals are continuing their efforts to eliminate hepatitis C by defining the most instrumental guides for screening, treatment and management.

Researchers observed a significantly high sustained virologic response among patients coinfected with HIV and hepatitis C who were enrolled in the French nationwide ANRS CO13 HEPAVIH observational cohort study, according to a recently published report.