Hepatitis C News

For Eric Lawitz, MD, research is its own reward.

Douglas T. Dieterich, MD, director of the Institute for Liver Medicine at Mount Sinai Health Systems, and professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, brings a unique perspective with him to work every day.

When Vincent Lo Re III, MD, MSCE, first entered the clinical epidemiology field, he did not know the rewarding career path on which it would lead him several years later.

Although Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, MD, FACP, is proud of the advancements made in hepatitis C treatments, he has come across a new challenge — ensuring patients do not become too complacent with their follow-up treatments.

HCV testing provides valuable information that aids in disease prevention and in the initiation of care.

An estimated 3.5 million people in the United States are living with the hepatitis C virus, and because the disease is typically asymptomatic until years after infection, more than half of those infected are unaware that they have the virus.

In May 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued its first global strategy for the elimination of viral hepatitis, including the elimination of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a public health concern, by the year 2030.

Upon its discovery in 1989, the only treatment for hepatitis C was interferon. Later, ribavirin was added, and patients received interferon and ribavirin for 24 to 48 weeks depending on their viral genotype.

The introduction of direct-acting antivirals was a significant step toward hepatitis C. Physicians, researchers and medical associations have continued to focus on developing methods and programs to treat as many patients with HCV as possible, especially injection drug users who have a high prevalence for transmission.

WHO has released a summary of its biggest stories on key health issues in 2017. Among them include major achievements against measles, polio, trachoma and lymphatic filariasis, as well as efforts in combating deadly outbreaks of plague in Madagascar, Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and cholera in Yemen, which the agency said is the largest epidemic of cholera in recorded history.