One-year survival was similar for adults with severe heart failure who received a heart transplant from a donor with hepatitis C compared to those who received hearts from donors who did not have hepatitis C, according to new research. The results of the study were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the… Continue reading Hepatitis C and Heart Transplants
Tag: Hepatitis C
Many Insurers Deny Coverage for Highly Effective Hep C Drugs
Drugs that can cure chronic hepatitis C infection in approximately 95 percent of patients first became available in the U.S. in 2014. But both public and private insurers continue to deny coverage for these costly drugs at high rates nationwide, despite efforts to remove treatment restrictions, according to a new study published in Open Forum… Continue reading Many Insurers Deny Coverage for Highly Effective Hep C Drugs
Expanding Hepatitis C Testing to All Adults Is Cost-Effective and Improves Outcomes
According to a February 2018 study published online in Clinical Infectious Diseases, screening all adults for hepatitis C (HCV) is a cost-effective way to improve clinical outcomes of HCV and identify more infected people compared to current recommendations. Using a simulation model, researchers from Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Stanford University found… Continue reading Expanding Hepatitis C Testing to All Adults Is Cost-Effective and Improves Outcomes
Hepatitis C Treatments Give Patients More Options
Transformative advances in drug treatments approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are giving the 3.2 million Americans with chronic hepatitis C a chance for a longer, healthier life without the virus. That’s good news for baby boomers—who make up three of four adults with the hepatitis C virus—and millions of other Americans,… Continue reading Hepatitis C Treatments Give Patients More Options
Study: Too Few Hep C Cases Reported
According to researchers, there appears to be massive underreporting of acute hepatitis C cases. The study, conducted by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, analyzed the system set up by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The research was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Specifically,… Continue reading Study: Too Few Hep C Cases Reported
Better Treatment for Hep C Patients
A new system can help identify which hepatitis C patients are most in need of new anti-viral drugs. An awareness campaign directed at baby boomers, born between 1946-1965, to be screened for hepatitis C , took off as effective treatments emerged to wipe out the liver-damaging virus. But high costs – up to more than… Continue reading Better Treatment for Hep C Patients
The Test Every Baby Boomer Should Take
It’s important to know what health tests and screenings you should take. Most of us are aware for the need for timely mammograms and colonoscopies, but there’s another test that every Baby Boomer should consider taking – the test for hepatitis C. Here, the experts from the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) tell you… Continue reading The Test Every Baby Boomer Should Take
Hepatitis C and “Natural” Treatments
Approximately 3.2 million people in the U.S. suffer from Hepatitis C, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and 17,000 cases are diagnosed each year. A liver infection caused by a virus, Hepatitis C can lead to serious and even fatal illnesses such as liver cancer or liver failure. Conventional treatments include antiviral… Continue reading Hepatitis C and “Natural” Treatments
Pill-Only Regimens Cure Hep C
Two new pill-only regimens that rapidly cure most patients with genotype 1 hepatitis C (HCV), the most difficult to treat form of the infection, could soon be widely prescribed across Europe. Recently-published studies confirmed the efficacy and safety of combination therapy with two oral direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs), with around 90% of patients cured after… Continue reading Pill-Only Regimens Cure Hep C
Hep C Could Become a Rare Disease
Newly implemented screening guidelines and improved, highly effective drug therapies could make hepatitis C a rare disease in the United States by 2036, according to the results of a predictive model developed at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
The results of the analysis, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and performed with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, were published in the August 5th 2014 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
More Liver Transplants Possible With New Technique
Scientists have found a way to preserve livers for a longer time before transplant.
The investigators, from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Engineering in Medicine, said that their technique permitted successful transplantation of rat livers after being preserved for up to four days. That is more than triple the length of time organs can currently be preserved.
The discovery was published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Liver Transplants for Hep C: A Surprising Finding
An international team of researchers was surprised to find that in some hepatitis C patients who receive liver transplants, genes that target the hepatitis C virus (HCV) as part of the innate immune system actually enable the patients to tolerate a foreign organ without taking immunosuppressant medication. The study was published in July 2014 in Science Translational Medicine.
Hep C Not a Survival Threat for HIV+ Patients with Ca
Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia analyzed data from HIV+ patients diagnosed with lymphoma, collected over 17 years, to better understand how Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection influences survival outcomes. Study leader Stefan K. Barta, MD, MS, MRCP presented the group’s findings at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in June 2014 in Chicago.
Recognizing the Symptoms of Hepatitis C
WHEN TO CONTACT A DOCTOR
Unfortunately, it’s possible to have hepatitis C without knowing it. But there are symptoms that can reveal its presence. The federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) lists these:
Fever
Fatigue
Loss of appetite
Nausea
Vomiting
Abdominal pain
Dark urine
Clay-colored bowel movements
Joint pain
Jaundice (yellow color in the skin or eyes)
Managing your life during Hepatitis C Treatment
TREATMENT Managing your life during Treatment
Courses of treatment for hepatitis C can be long, arduous and may not even ultimately eliminate the virus. Patients have to deal with side effects such as hair loss, nausea, and depression. Although the treatment for many cases is a course of antiviral medications, some patients choose to defer treatment even when advised not to do so, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information. In the most serious cases, a patient may get a liver transplant.
ALTERNATIVE TREATMENT
Managing Life with Hepatitis C
People with hepatitis C can live a normal life span of seventy or eighty years with proper medical care and self care. The main keys to survival are adhering without fail to any medication schedule and avoiding all alcohol because it damages the liver. However, a liver transplant may be necessary if serious damage has already taken place. Even if that is the case, though, taking antivirals and anti-rejection drugs as prescribed can mean a long and relatively healthy life.
Living With
A healthy lifestyle is essential in order to feel your best with hepatitis C.
Checklist of Common Hepatitis C Symptoms
Certain people do have some or all of the following symptoms:
• Chronic fatigue in spite of getting enough sleep
• Not feeling much like eating because of a loss of appetite
• Jaundice, a yellow discoloration of the skin, mucus membranes (tissue including that which lines the mouth), and whites of the eyes due to liver damage
• Dark urine
• Stools that are chalky-colored.
What causes Hepatitis C?
HCV is most often spread by contact with the blood of infected people, especially if you have an open cut or puncture wound that would allow the virus to get past your skin and into your bloodstream. Here are some causes Hepatitis C:
• Getting a blood transfusion before 1992 or receiving blood clotting products before 1987. Those are the dates when screening for HCV infected donor blood and blood products went into effect.