Hepatitis C News

The FDA approved Mavyret to treat all six genotypes of hepatitis C in pediatric patients aged 12 years to 17 years, according to a press release from the organization.

VIENNA — In this exclusive video from the International Liver Congress 2019, Philippa Easterbrook, MD, senior scientist of the Global Hepatitis Program within the HIV Department at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, discusses the future of direct-acting antiviral access for children and adolescents with hepatitis C.

VIENNA — In this exclusive video from the International Liver Congress 2019, Olufunmilayo Lesi, FWACP, FMCP, from the University of Lagos in Nigeria, discusses the WHO’s goal for global elimination of viral hepatitis by the year 2030.

The phone call came while I was celebrating Christmas with my husband’s family during my first year of medical school. My grandfather, a World War II veteran, both a best friend and hero of mine, had died. He died of septic shock secondary to MRSA in the ICU in which I would eventually rotate in as a resident. He died under the care of an intensivist who would ultimately become my attending. As my training continued, I was drawn to the ICU; the sickest of the sick. There are profound ties between infectious diseases and critical care. In the ICU, patients are either presenting with life-threatening infections, or, in the process of providing critical care, we place devices that carry risk for infection, and thus every day demands attention to the appropriate diagnosis, treatment and prevention of infection. As an infectious disease and critical care physician, I have been blessed to have many physician mentors in both fields. But truth be told, my greatest mentor is the one I lost. Every day, his death challenges me to continue to improve the outcomes for our critically ill patients.

VIENNA — In this exclusive video from the International Liver Congress 2019, Heather Valerio, from the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales in Australia, provides an overview of the Enhancing Treatment of Hepatitis C in Opioid Substitution Settings Engage study of hepatitis C outcomes among people who inject drugs.

More than 55% of people who inject drugs, or PWID, in eight United States cities were found to have been infected with hepatitis C virus, including almost half of young PWID, according to study findings that also showed infection was associated with risky injection practices.

VIENNA — In the face of the remaining gaps in the hepatitis C care cascade, timely screening, monitoring and linkage to care by general practitioners coupled with early treatment by specialists could effectively reduce the hepatic and extrahepatic burden of the virus, according to a real-world analysis presented at the International Liver Congress 2019.

VIENNA — Patients with hepatitis C genotype 3 and compensated cirrhosis had higher rates of sustained virologic response after treatment with Epclusa and ribavirin than with Epclusa alone or combined Sovaldi and Daklinza with ribavirin.

VIENNA — Use of adenovirus derived from chimpanzees showed increased activity and sustainability of T cell activation in an early study of a vaccine for hepatitis C virus, according to new data presented during the International Liver Congress.

VIENNA — A real-world analysis of Mavyret for hepatitis C showed patients with key comorbidities such as psychiatric disorders and substance abuse achieved high rates of sustained virologic response with improvements in patient-reported outcomes, according to a presentation at the International Liver Congress 2019.