HCV / Hepatitis

Hepatitis C has been referred to as a silent killer. As a result, Charitha Gowda, MD, MPH, provides information on the newest diagnostic tests available for hepatitis C.

Charitha Gowda, MD, MPH addresses concerns that hepatitis could be transmitted via mosquitoes.

Charitha Gowda, MD, MPH, explains the ways that hepatitis A, B, and C are transmitted and recent discoveries in the modes of transmission.

An increase in funding from Congress, in addition to a decrease in drug prices, will allow the VA to finance medical care for all hepatitis C patients, regardless of the stage of the disease, for fiscal year 2016.

People with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are at a higher risk of having hepatitis C (HCV), however, less than two-thirds of patients are being screened regularly.

The FDA approved label warning changes for two Gilead Sciences hepatitis C drugs after one person died and nine others had serious reactions when the drugs were coadministered with amiodarone, a drug used to treat irregular heartbeat.

A Philadelphia program operating in underserved neighborhoods found that residents chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus often lacked access to screening as well as treatment for the disease.

In patients with chronic HBV, the immune system may have very low levels of the virus. When reactivation occurs due to immunosuppression, these viruses begin to replicate again. Common symptoms of this event include inflammation of the liver and elevations of liver enzyme levels in the blood. In some cases, bilirubin levels may rise in response to reactivation of infection.

Treatment with a combination of tenofovir and pegylated interferon yielded higher rates of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) loss than when either drug was used singly. Further, with longer therapy duration improved results.

Patients who have HCV infection are at high risk for arthralgia, myalgias, pruritus, neuropathy, and decompensated livers. Until recently the sole available treatment was interferon. After the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ribavirin, patients who took ribavirin plus interferon responded better. Now, the FDA has approved a small selection of oral antivirals to treat hepatitis C.

Researchers have found that maintenance treatment with methadone or buprenorphine may help prevent hepatitis C infection among injection drug users, a population with the highest risk of infection of the virus.

The US Senate Finance Committee recently requested detailed pricing information on Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), its breakthrough oral treatment for hepatitis C.

Although it is widely understood that hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are the leading causes of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, an alarming number of HBV and HCV carriers have unhealthy habits that result in poor liver health.

Scientists have mapped the structure of a hepatitis C virus surface protein that is responsible for binding to host liver cells, leading to virus entry.

Saliva tests for detecting HCV infection may not be the best option for determining infection status.

Study results show hepatic decompensation is more common in people who have both HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) compared to those infected only with HCV, an indication that early HCV treatment among coinfected patients is needed.