Hepatitis C

Fewer than a quarter of people living with diagnosed hepatitis C infection in Australia as ov December 2015 had ever received treatment. But the arrival of direct-acting antivirals on Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme has changed that.

Patients who become frail while awaiting a liver transplant become less likely to survive. A Pittsburgh team found that physicians treating these patients often get over-optimistic assessments of how active patients are when they rely on the patients' accounts.

Direct-acting antivirals are curing hepatitis C infection, but that has not stopped the number of deaths from acute on chronic liver failure in patients who develop cirrhosis, a Mayo Clinic team reports.

Can a plant extract found in berries help treat hepatitis C virus? Spanish researchers say the flavonoid quercetin is effective in inhibiting an enzyme and interrupting the virus' replication.

The concern most likely did not come to light during clinical trials because, according to the FDA, patients who were infected with hepatitis B were excluded from participating in HCV treatment studies.

Treating prison inmates for hepatitis C infection is a key to ending the spread of the disease. A UK study found treatment works best when it can be completed before a prisoner is released or transferred.

The Penn Medicine clinical trial uses kidneys from deceased donors who were infected with the hepatitis C virus. The first person in the trial received a kidney transplant in July and then underwent treatment with a regimen of Zepatier, one of the direct acting antiviral drugs approved recently to treat the virus.

A new study examined the cost of increasingly prevalent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in both the United States and Europe and places the bill in the hundreds of billions.

Hepatitis B and C are caused by different viruses that can start as acute infections but turn chronic in some people and eventually lead to life-threatening liver damage, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While there are vaccines to prevent hepatitis A and B, there is no vaccine for hepatitis C.

Interferon treatment has long been a difficult regimen for patients with hepatitis C, but it is still used. A study found a thyroid concern.

Hepatocellular carcinoma, the cancer that can result from untreated HCV infection, can be caught earlier with MRIs than the current standard practice of monitoring with ultrasounds, a Korean team reports.

The World Health Organization (WHO) set a target to eliminate hepatitis C by 2030, and one of the ways that can become a reality is by identifying commonly infected populations. Prisons are one place where the virus thrives.

San Francisco, CA, with the backing of generous state Medicaid coverage, believes it can wipe out hepatitis C in vulnerable populations including people with HIV, intravenous drug users, homeless people, and prisoners in the city's jails.

People living with HIV/AIDS may have trouble getting authorization for HCV direct acting antivirals. Amida Care in NYC, a Medicai MCO came up with a plan.

According to Charles King, President and CEO of Housing Works, "It really doesn't matter what part of the world you're in. If you're having to struggle with issues around sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, homelessness, addiction, mental illness, they are all drivers of very bad health outcomes for people - whether you're talking about HIV, hepatitis C, or tuberculosis."

A study of Scottish patients who had been treated and cured of hepatitis C found that the group had a higher mortality rate compared to the general population.

Researchers say they have found a new and potentially cheaper and better way to diagnose HCV.

The International Network for Hepatitis C in Substance Users points to economic and pseudo-scientific barriers that keep drug-using hepatitis sufferers from receiving new, effective treatments, including an assumption that illicit drug use reduced the efficacy of certain medications

Pharmacogenetics may be the key to providing individualized treatment to patients who become anemic after hepatitis C treatment, according to a recent review

“Although further development of faldaprevir in combination with deleobuvir was terminated due to a strategic decision,” the present study provides valuable information about “antiviral therapies that include a combination of DAAs with a PI and a non-nucleoside thumb-pocket 1 polymerase inhibitor.”

Although direct acting antivirals (DAAs) have revolutionized the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV), a small fraction of patients still experience treatment failure.

In many cases, the latest treatments for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are at least 90% effective at curing the infection; however, there still remains a subset of patients who don’t respond to the new medications.

It’s no secret that excessive alcohol consumption is dangerous to the liver; that’s exactly why patients with hepatitis C are advised to steer clear of it.

Despite the arrival of direct acting antivirals, there are limit options for patients with genotypes 2 and 3 of HCV infection. A drug combo using interferon appears to work, a study finds.

Beyond high cost, people with hepatitis C face several barriers to treatment, and those arise from various sources. Doctors, Medicaid, private health insurance companies, and intravenous drug use can all be obstacles, according to a university study out of Massachusetts that examined treatment approvals for two new drugs.

The list of effective drugs for the once incurable illness of hepatitis C infection keeps growing. But some physicians are frustrated. Here's why.

“Each entry contains contextual information pertaining to the entry such as the HCV genotypic background and links to the original publication,” say the authors.

The news that physicians in Princeton, NJ were confronting an outbreak of hepatitis C in young people who were also using heroin shocked this affluent, mostly white community. Ronald Nahass, MD, talks about how it occurred and what needs to happen next.

A study in women coinfected with hepatitis C and HIV found that use of marijuana was not associated with progression to advanced liver fibrosis.

In study, GPT and GOT levels significantly decreased in the Kuan Sin Yin group as compared to the placebo group, by 29.7% and 24.4% respectively.