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Week Ending: March 19th, 2005
Alan Franciscus
Editor-in-Chief
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This Issue:
• AD, Free Hepatitis C Screening
• Hepatitis C: The Silent Epidemic
• Nonprofit Research Unit Established by Hepatitis B. Foundation
• Personal Crisis Inspires Temecula Man to Rally for Organ Donation Awareness
• Diabetes Increases the Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
• National Hepatitis C Advocacy Council Celebrates Reintroduction of Federal Hepatitis C Legislation
• FDA Approves Roche's COBAS AmpliScreen Hepatitis C and HIV-1 Tests To Improve Safety of Organ and Tissue Donations
• Beach Boy Calls on Public to Face Up to Hepatitis C
• Valeant Pharmaceuticals' Remofovir Mesylate, an Improved Adefovir Prodrug for Targeted and Tolerable Treatment of Hepatitis B (HBV) Infection
• FDA Recommends Approval for BMS Oral Antiviral Agent for Chronic Hep B
• Hepatitis Scare Shuts Down Clinic
• Hepatitis C in Maternity Hospital
• Schering-Plough Will Provide Hepatitis C Treatment to ADAP Enrollees
• Campaign Launched to Identify and Treat Hepatitis C Carriers
• Singer Trying to Raise Hepatitis C Awareness
• Safe Drug-Injection Sites Reduce Needle-Sharing, HIV Spread, Study Suggests
• Reagent of Hepatitis C Donated
• 10m Hepatitis C, 5m Hepatitis B Patients in Pakistan
• Newly Identified Protein May Inhibit Hepatitis Virus
• Escovedo Glad to Be Back on His Feet
March 13th, 2005
AD, Free Hepatitis C Screening
SourceURL:http://www.ameinfo.com
United Arab Emirates
The Al Noor Hospital in Abu Dhabi is conducting 1,000 free Hepatitis C screenings and so far 200 tests have been carried out of which 13 were positive, reported Gulf News. Officials said symptoms are very similar to the flu and people are often unaware of having the killer disease.
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Hepatitis C: The Silent Epidemic
SourceURL:http://www.globegazette.com
By KAREN CRIMMINGS, RN,
Disease Prevention Specialist,
Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health
You've heard a lot of news reports about the many methamphetamine-related arrests in North Iowa over the past year. But you probably haven't learned about the many health-related diseases associated with that type of drug use.
Meth users commonly inject the drug into their veins with a needle. IV drug use is the primary way to get hepatitis C (HCV).
Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus. The infection is spread when blood or bodily fluids from an infected person enters the body of a person who is not infected. It is not spread by casual contact such as hugging, kissing, sneezing, coughing, or eating and drinking using utensils previously used by an infected person.
Hepatitis C is a problem in North Iowa. From January 1999-March 2004, Cerro Gordo County had 122 reported hepatitis C cases with an additional 708 cases still estimated to be undiagnosed.
Hepatitis C affects 4 million people in the United States and is the leading cause of liver transplantation. It is the most common bloodborne pathogen found in the U.S.
A small percentage of persons with acute hepatitis C resolve their infection without further problems. Approximately 85 percent develop chronic infection. Many people with chronic infection develop chronic liver disease, a situation in which the virus damages the liver. The damage may progress to severe disease, including cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver failure. This progressive liver disease usually develops slowly over 20-30 years.
The greatest risk factor for contracting HCV is through intravenous drug use. If you have injected drugs with a needle - even one time - you are at the highest risk for HCV infection.
About signs and symptoms of hepatitis C:
- Infection with hepatitis C may cause mild symptoms, which usually develop slowly and may include tiredness, loss of appetite, stomach pain, nausea and vomiting.
- Most people who are infected with hepatitis C do not have symptoms and lead normal lives.
- Patients seldom become acutely ill, so it is possible for them to have the disease for some time before it is diagnosed.
- Because symptoms are so frequently mild or nonexistent, the majority of people with chronic HCV infection do not know they are infected and can unknowingly transmit the virus to others.
- Late in the disease, fatigue may become increasingly severe.
- For many, signs and symptoms appear once liver disease is advanced and treatments are less effective.
Facts about hepatitis C:
- Infection occurs from the sharing of needles, syringes, or other equipment associated with drug use.
- HCV infection can be rapidly acquired following the initiation of injection drug use.
- Of persons injecting drugs for at least five years, 60-80 percent are infected with HCV compared to about 30 percent infected with HIV.
- It may take two to three decades for serious liver damage to occur.
- It is believed that about 20 percent of the patients with chronic hepatitis C will develop cirrhosis, and a few of those will develop liver cancer.
- The true impact of HCV infection may explode over the next 10-20 years.
- Because it takes 20-30 years for chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and liver cancer to develop, it is conservatively estimated that illness and deaths from HCV-related liver disease among the millions of people infected during earlier years will increase two- to three-fold over the next two decades.
- Direct medical costs may range from $6.5 to $13.6 billion, with even larger indirect and societal costs.
- Anyone who has ever injected drugs - even if it was only one time in the past - should be tested for HCV.
- Early detection is important. Research has shown that treatment is most effective when started in the early stages of the disease. Once HCV infection has been identified, counseling for individuals not only helps to reduce (or even prevent) further transmission but also allows these people to have a more informed choice about lifestyle habits that can exacerbate liver disease, such as continued drug and alcohol use.
The Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health has received a grant to offer free hepatitis C counseling and testing services for individuals who are using or have previously used needles for injection of street drugs, even if it was only once.
Anyone interested in being screened for the virus should contact the Department of Public Health at (641) 421-9323 to schedule an appointment. For more information regarding hepatitis C, visit our Web site at www.cghealth.com.
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March 14th, 2005
Nonprofit Research Unit Established by Hepatitis B. Foundation
SourceURL:http://www.bizjournals.com
John George
The Hepatitis B. Foundation created a nonprofit research wing, known as the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research, in Doylestown.
Dr. Timothy M. Block, the institute's founding president and director, said the facility was created to help nurture biotechnology entrepreneurship, recruit and train future researchers, and provide public health outreach programs.
The foundation was established in 1991 to discover new therapies and early detection markers for viral hepatitis and liver cancer.
Scientists at the foundation and institute will be working as a team alongside about 30 Drexel University researchers who are part of the Drexel Institute for Biotechnology and Virology Research, which is based in adjacent laboratories. Block is also director of the Drexel Institute.
"This is a very unusual design for a nonprofit research institute," Block said. "We need to think outside of the box in order to create novel and effective therapies against hepatitis B," along with liver cancer and other serious viral diseases.
Now on the campus of Delaware Valley College, the foundation and two research institutes will move to the Bucks County Science Center by year end. The science center, being established in neighboring Buckingham, also will provide space for start-up biotech companies.
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March 15th, 2005
Personal Crisis Inspires Temecula Man to Rally for Organ Donation Awareness
SourceURL:http://www.nctimes.com
By: DEIRDRE NEWMAN - Staff Writer
TEMECULA ---- Life took a sharp turn for Rudolph Coenen when he found out last fall he had Hepatitis C and needed a new liver.
He had to quit his job, accumulated $100,000 in debt from medical bills and may lose his Temecula home where he and his wife are raising their four daughters.
He is on a waiting list to receive a new liver. While it's hard to predict, he is expected to survive about a one to two year without one, according to his doctor, Sammy Saab, assistant professor of medicine and surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
While Coenen anxiously waits for a donor match, friends and neighbors are rallying around his family, planning fund-raisers to help with the burgeoning debt.
Two have been planned so far. The first is Wednesday evening at Stadium Pizza on Highway 79 South. From 5 to 10 p.m, 30 percent of the sales from customers who say they are there for the fund-raiser will go to the family, manager Erika Thomson said.
On Saturday, the Rummage for Rudy community garage sale is scheduled at Red Hawk Elementary School, where three of Coenen's daughters attend. The garage sale was the idea of Coenen and Kelly Ortiz, who works lunch duty at the school. Ortiz also set up the pizza fund-raiser.
"They're such positive people to begin with," Ortiz said of the Coenens. "Even through all this, he still has short-term goals for before his transplant and long-term goals for after. They're such great role models for people to look up to. And they've really drawn me in to help them because of their positive attitude. They definitely deserve something in return."
Coenen said it's tough to describe the support flowing to his family in their time of need.
"I don't even have words to express the gratitude of the community coming together and helping me," Coenen said. "It's a real trying time for my family right now. For them to take their time to focus on one family who's going through a hard time, I think it's like a blessing."
Finding a match
Coenen, 40, found out in October that he had Hepatitis C and needed a new liver, he said. He believes he contracted the disease during a blood transfusion while in the Marines in his 20s. After a slew of tests, he went on a waiting list in the middle of February.
"It's a long time for a person who is desperate," Coenen said of the time it took to get on the list.
He is depending on the kindness of strangers in his quest for a new liver ---- not just the kindness of deceased strangers, but living ones too.
That's because of a procedure called living related transplantation, where a living person can donate about one-third of his or her liver and it will grow back to the normal size in both people within three to six months, Saab said.
Blood type and body size are important, too. The blood type of potential donors has to match Coenen's and the donor has to be between 18 and 55 and of similar body size. Coenen is Type O positive, so only those with Type O blood can donate, he said. Coenen is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and slender.
"If it's a woman's liver, I might get some female tendencies, like stopping at the Avon counter," Coenen joked.
So he waits, hoping that someone with the right criteria will surface.
There are a lot of others waiting too, though. There are 17,000 to 18,000 people in the country waiting for a new liver, while just 5,000 to 6,000 transplants are performed each year, Saab said.
Promoting awareness
Meanwhile, Coenen's personal crisis has inspired him to travel around southern California to raise awareness for organ donation, especially in the Latino community, where a low percentage donate their organs, he said.
Last year, 13 percent of Latinos donated their organs, said Annie Moore, spokeswoman with United Network for Organ Sharing.
As part of Coenen's effort, he tries to dispel common myths about organ donation, such as a belief that St. Peter won't let a person into heaven who donates an organ, he said.
Coenen's mission promoting awareness is appreciated by OneLegacy, a network that discusses organ donation with families at the time of their relatives' deaths in Southern California.
"There is a huge need for awareness in (the Latino) community and that's where Rudy fits into the puzzle," said Dahiana De Francisco, OneLegacy's Hispanic communications coordinator. "He's very well-spoken and it's very important that he is able to share his story with the general population, but especially with Latinos, so they see that anybody could be affected and could be in need of a transplant."
Coenen would like to see a program in this country similar to some countries in Europe, where citizens are automatically enrolled in an organ donation program unless they opt out, he said. This would eliminate the need for a waiting list, he added.
He is also in discussion with some companies to sponsor him for a coast-to-coast walk that would end at the White House to raise awareness for organ donation, he said. This would enable him to spread the word that he would like to see state registries and education about organ donation in schools, he said.
"People can be great husbands and wives, good sisters and brothers, good co-workers, a person of principle and character and have the fortitude of someone who is a good example, but when they (eulogize you), the noblest thing they could say is you gave life, even in death," he said.
A state registry on organ donations is imminent in California. For now, it's either up to people to sign a donor card and place a pink donor dot on their driver's licenses or if the license is not available, it's up to the next-of-kin to decide if their deceased relative will be donating any organs.
Starting in April, California residents 18 and older will be able to go online and register in a legal document their decision to donate their organs in the event of their death, De Francisco said. Thirty-three other states already allow their residents to do so.
Toll on the Family
The family only has enough money to pay their mortgage until the end of this month, Coenen said.
"I just hope if I have to go, it's before I have to walk out of this house," he said. "If I would have to sell, I would shed a lot of tears."
For his wife, Maribel, it has taken a toll as a mother and caregiver. She had to leave her part-time job to care for her husband full-time.
"You're used to the same normal routine," she said. "It's totally different. It's not easy for any of us, even though he's the one going through this. It's hard financially and emotionally."
Rudy's liver disease has sapped his energy as well as his finances. Sometimes he stays in bed for two to three days because he's too tired to get up, he said.
He deals with the gravity of the situation with humor at times, but the thought of not making it weighs heavily on him.
"It's hard living knowing that you're dying. ... I'm losing what means the most to me in my life ---- my wife and four daughters," he said.
His daughters range in age from 4 to 10 years old and the oldest has some awareness of what's going on, he said.
"I can see how her eyes water up," he said. "She's very quiet and writes in her journal. And the teachers have been very supportive."
The family's devout Catholic faith plays a large part in how they are handling this crisis. A painting of the Virgin Mary hangs on the wall above the fireplace and an angel doll watches over the family's dining room.
"Sometimes, God blesses you with things like this. ... If it's his will that I've awakened one person to donation, then I've done what he wanted, even if it means my passing," Rudy said.
He says the past year has been the best year of his life.
"I've felt more love, more compassion," he said. "I've felt the depths of what it means to live."
Contact staff writer Deirdre Newman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2623, or dnewman@californian.com.
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March 16th, 2005
Diabetes Increases the Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
SourceURL:http://www.gastrohep.com
The latest issue of Gut reports that diabetes is associated with a 2 to 3 fold increase in the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, regardless of the presence of other major hepatocellular carcinoma risk factors.
Diabetes has been associated with an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in studies of referred patients.
This is the first population based case control study in America to examine this association while adjusting for other major risk factors related to hepatocellular carcinoma.
Dr El-Serag and colleagues from Texas, America used the Surveillance Epidemiology and End-Results Program Medicare linked database to identify patients aged 65 years and older diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma.
The research team randomly selected non-cancer controls between 1994 and 1999.
The team examined only cases and controls with continuous Medicare enrolment for 3 years prior to the index date.
Inpatient and outpatient claims files were searched by the investigators for diagnostic codes indicative of diabetes, Hepatitis C virus, Hepatitis B virus, alcoholic liver disease, and haemochromatosis.
Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma without these conditions were categorized as idiopathic.
Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were calculated in logistic regression analyses.
A significant positive interaction was found between Hepatitis C and diabetes – Gut
The investigators identified 2,061 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 6,183 non-cancer controls.
Compared with non-cancer controls, patients with hepatocellular carcinoma were male (66% versus 36%) and non-White (34% versus 18%).
The investigative team noted that the proportion of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma with diabetes (43%) was significantly greater than non-cancer controls (19%).
Multiple logistic regression analyses was used by the researchers to adjust for demographics features and other hepatocellular carcinoma risk factors (Hepatitis C virus, Hepatitis B virus, alcoholic liver disease, and haemochromatosis).
The team showed that diabetes was associated with a threefold increase in the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma.
In a subset of patients without these major risk factors, the adjusted odds ratio for diabetes declined but remained significant.
The investigators detected a significant positive interaction between Hepatitis C virus and diabetes.
In addition, the research team reported similar findings that persisted in analyses restricted to diabetes between 2 and 3 years prior to hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis.
Dr El-Serag concluded, “Diabetes is associated with a 2 to 3 fold increase in the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, regardless of the presence of other major hepatocellular carcinoma risk factors.”
“Findings from this population based study suggest that diabetes is an independent risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma.”
Gut 2005;54:533-539
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National Hepatitis C Advocacy Council Celebrates Reintroduction of Federal Hepatitis C Legislation
SourceURL:http://home.businesswire.com
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 16, 2005--The National Hepatitis C Advocacy Council (NHCAC) enthusiastically announces the reintroduction of The Hepatitis C Epidemic Control and Prevention Act (S-521, HR-1290) by Congressional sponsors Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Representative Heather A. Wilson (R-NM). The Hepatitis C Epidemic Control and Prevention Act mandates a comprehensive federal hepatitis C program to include counseling and testing, early detection, surveillance, education, training, and research.
Hepatitis C is the most common chronic, blood-borne viral infection in the United States with an estimated 4 million Americans currently infected. The incidence of complications of long-standing, untreated chronic hepatitis C such as cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer are expected to increase by 60-200% by the end of the current decade. Direct medical care costs and indirect costs associated with disability, lost productivity, and premature death are expected to exceed $85 billion by the year 2019.
Originally introduced but not voted upon in 2003, the reintroduction of The Hepatitis C Epidemic Control and Prevention Act has been a bipartisan effort. The 13 current cosponsors of the companion bills include Senators Cornyn (R-TX), Kennedy (D-MA) and Schumer (D-NY), and Representatives Abercrombie (D-HI), Berman (D-CA), Doggett (D-TX), McGovern (D-MA), McNulty (D-NY), Meeks (D-NY), Owens (D-NY), Payne (D-NJ), Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Towns (D-NY).
The Hepatitis C Epidemic Control and Prevention Act is the conceptual brainchild of NHCAC, a coalition of 20 hepatitis C organizations from across the nation that work collaboratively to advocate for public health policy that supports and promotes hepatitis C prevention, control, research, and services. Council members, many personally affected by HCV, have worked tirelessly over the past two years to inform Congressional leaders about the needs of the hepatitis C community. "The reintroduction of The Hepatitis C Epidemic Control and Prevention Act heralds a new opportunity for Congressional leadership to establish and strengthen the federal response to hepatitis C," said NHCAC President Andi Thomas. "I speak on behalf of all NHCAC members in saying we are thankful to the sponsors and cosponsors of S-521 and HR-1290 for their leadership, courage, and compassion in reintroducing this crucial legislation."
For additional information about The Hepatitis C Epidemic Control and Prevention Act or the National Hepatitis C Advocacy Council, contact Andi Thomas at 305-893-7992 x101.
Contacts
National Hepatitis C Advocacy Council
Andi Thomas, 305-893-7992 x101
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FDA Approves Roche's COBAS AmpliScreen Hepatitis C and HIV-1 Tests To Improve Safety of Organ and Tissue Donations
SourceURL:http://biz.yahoo.com
Press Release Source: Roche Diagnostics
- FDA expands use beyond blood screening and source plasma test for use in screening cadaveric donors -
INDIANAPOLIS, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Roche Diagnostics announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its COBAS AmpliScreen HIV-1 and Hepatitis C (HCV) Tests to screen cadaveric organ and tissue donations. The expanded claim for screening blood samples from these donors is in addition to testing whole blood, source plasma and potential living organ donors.
Tissues from cadaveric sources such as skin, bone, and ligaments are used in approximately 1 million medical procedures per year (1). These tissues can transmit the same viral infections as blood, and the products from a single tissue donation may be transplanted to an average of 50 (2), or as many as 100 patients.
"This is a great day for tissue and organ banks worldwide, and a great day for patients awaiting much-needed transplants," says Heino von Prondzynski, CEO Division Roche Diagnostics and Member of the Executive Committee. "The sensitivity and specificity of our tests as both a stand-alone and as used in conjunction with existing screening assays, enable tissue banks to further improve the safety of products used in a variety of therapeutic applications. Ultimately, we feel that transplant recipients will directly benefit from the agency's approval today."
Roche Diagnostics' tests have the potential to help detect and thereby prevent transmission of HIV-1 and HCV, making the blood and tissue supply safer, sooner. In a recent documented case, a single antibody-negative donor in October 2000 donated 91 tissues and organs. Nucleic acid testing (NAT), as used in the COBAS AmpliScreen HIV-1 and HCV Tests, performed after donation and transplantation, found the donor to be HCV positive. Eight recipients were identified with HCV (3).
Roche Diagnostics' blood and tissue screening tests are based on the company's patented and highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction technology (PCR), which has become the global standard for fast and reliable replication of minute amounts of genetic material to detectable levels. PCR enables detection of the genetic material of infectious agents directly; making it possible to detect infections earlier in the infection cycle than with immunoassays, often before the person making the donation shows any symptoms of disease. Currently, most tissue donors are tested using enzyme immunoassays, which detect antibodies to the target virus. Immunoassay screening technologies, in contrast to nucleic acid testing, detect antigens or antibodies that appear in the body later in the infection cycle. Nucleic acid tests like the COBAS AmpliScreen HIV-1 and HCV Tests, can reduce the "window period" of detection for HIV-1 from 22 days to between 13 and 15 days, and for HCV from 82 days to between 32 and 22 days (4). This shortening of the "window period" (the window of opportunity for a donation to escape detection) enables laboratories to further ensure the safety of the tissues used in a variety of therapies.
"We congratulate Roche Diagnostics and welcome its COBAS AmpliScreen HIV-1 and HCV tests for organ and tissue donors," said P. Robert Rigney, Jr., CEO, American Association of Tissue Banks. "We are pleased that our tissue banks will have another screening test available that is specifically licensed for cadaveric specimens. These tests will help to ensure the safety of tissue allografts."
About Roche Diagnostics' Blood Screening Business
Roche's PCR-based tests are used to screen more units of blood worldwide than any other nucleic acid tests. Roche's COBAS AmpliScreen Tests for the detection of HIV-1 and Hepatitis C have been approved for use in the US and abroad for screening whole blood, source plasma, and potential heart beating organ donors. The COBAS AmpliScreen HBV Test is approved for use in the EU and is currently the first HBV nucleic acid test to have been accepted for FDA review in the United States. COBAS AmpliScreen Tests are also used in other countries. Roche's AmpliNAT multiplex Test -- the first single-tube assay to test for HIV-1, Hepatitis C, and Hepatitis B in a single triplex reaction -- has been used exclusively by the Japanese Red Cross since 1999 to screen 100% of Japan's blood supply. Roche's TaqScreen West Nile Virus Test, the first in North America to fully automate the extraction, amplification, and detection steps of PCR, is currently in clinical trials in the US and Canada. Roche is also actively engaged in developing next-generation instrument systems and assays to further integrate and automate the blood screening process.
About Roche and the Roche Diagnostics Division
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people's health and quality of life. Roche is a world leader in diagnostics, the leading supplier of medicines for cancer and transplantation and a market leader in virology. In 2004 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 21.7 billion Swiss francs, while the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 7.8 billion Swiss francs. Roche employs roughly 65,000 people in 150 countries and has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai.
Roche's Diagnostics Division offers a uniquely broad product portfolio and supplies a wide array of innovative testing products and services to researchers, physicians, patients, hospitals and laboratories world-wide. Roche Diagnostics' North American headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Ind. For further information, please visit our websites: http://www.roche-diagnostics.com/press_lounge/blood_screening.html, http://www.roche.us and http://www.roche-diagnostics.us .
*Goodman, JL. The Safety and Availability of Blood and Tissues- Progress and Challenges;" N. Engl. J. Med; 351, 8; pp 819.
*Goodman, JL. The Safety and Availability of Blood and Tissues- Progress and Challenges;" N. Engl. J. Med; 351, 8; pp 819.
*MMWR 52(13): 273-6, 2003
*Bush, M.: "Blood Safety in the New Millennium," (2001), AABB, Ch.2, p35.
All mentioned trademarks are trademarks of a member of the Roche Group.
For more information please contact:
Lori LeRoy
Roche Diagnostics
317-521-7159
Lori.leroy@roche.com
Joel Reuter
Roche Diagnostics
317-521-7431
Joel.reuter@roche.com
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Beach Boy Calls on Public to Face Up to Hepatitis C
SourceURL:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
Former member of the Beach Boys, David Marks, is today calling on the public to 'face their past' as part of a government campaign to raise awareness of hepatitis C. The Beach Boy, who found out that he had the virus in 1999, is in London's Leicester Square to unveil an outdoor exhibition of giant portraits of people with hepatitis C.
Recent research shows that four out of five people in England know little or nothing about hepatitis C, and eighty per cent of the estimated 200,000 people infected in this country are unaware of their condition, which can go undetected for up to 30 years.
The three-metre high portraits on display in Leicester Square are of people from across the country, all of who have lived with hepatitis C. The pictures were taken by photographer Michele Martinoli, who has herself been successfully treated for hepatitis C.
Welcoming the event, Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said: "This event is an innovative way of raising public awareness of hepatitis C and will help with efforts to prevent new cases and to diagnose and treat those who are already infected.
"By touring major cities in England, the photographic exhibition will help communicate key messages about the disease to the public across the country."
Former Beach Boy, David Marks, speaking at the event said:
"People need to take a few minutes out of their day to step back and face their pasts... have I ever injected drugs using shared equipment, even just once? Have I had an unsafe tattoo or piercing? If the answer is yes, call the Hepatitis C Information Line for advice about hepatitis C and whether you should consider being tested."
Photographer, Michele Martinoli, speaking at the event said:
"There is a social stigma around the disease caused by lack of awareness. I hope these portraits show that hepatitis C affects people from all walks of life. It's important that we bring hepatitis C out of the shadows to get people to face up to the illness in the same way we did with HIV in the eighties and nineties."
Hepatitis C is usually spread by the transfer of blood from person-to-person, for example through the sharing of needles or syringes when injecting drugs. Those at risk include people who have had a blood transfusion before screening for hepatitis C was introduced in 1991. It can also be spread, less commonly, through unprotected sex, tattoos and body piercing. Many people have no symptoms, while others may feel tired and have mild abdominal discomfort. There is effective treatment available, which is why it is so important for people who may have been at risk to get tested.
The Hepatitis C Information Line is 0800 451 451 (textphone 0800 0850859) and open from 10am-10pm, 7 days a week, and further information on hepatitis C is available at http://www.hepc.nhs.uk.
For further information or pictures of the event, or to arrange interviews with the Beach Boy, the photographer, a hepatitis C expert or any of the people featured in the exhibition, please contact Chris Duncan, Joanna York or Victoria Smith on 0207 815 3900 or chris.duncan@munroforster.com
Chris Duncan - 07810 386314
Joanna York - 07958 615283
Victoria Smith - 07816 527035
For more information on Department of Health policy on hepatitis C please contact Sophie Coppel in the media centre on 020 7210 5707.
Notes to Editors:
- Hepatitis C is recognised as a significant public health problem world-wide. In England it is estimated that there are approximately 200,000 people chronically infected and the majority of these are unaware of their infection. There is currently no vaccine against hepatitis C, so prevention of new infections is particularly important. There are increasingly effective antiviral drug treatments available that have been approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). Lifestyle changes, in particular decreasing alcohol intake, can delay the onset of liver disease
- The Hepatitis C Action Plan for England is available on the DH website at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/publications and http://www.dh.gov.uk/cmo
- David Marks played on the first four Beach Boys' albums. He was forced to leave the band in 1999 due to his battles with hepatitis C. He has since cleared the virus through treatment, whilst dedicating his time to raising awareness of hepatitis C across America
- The portraits are of people who are currently living with hepatitis C, produced by photographer Michele Martinoli, who herself has been successfully treated for the virus. This event is the first time these pictures are being exhibited. Martinoli's work has previously been shown in titles such as The Face, Attitude, AXM, QX, G3, The Times, Sunday Mirror and Time Out
GNNREF: 112591
Issued by : DOH Press Office (UK)
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Valeant Pharmaceuticals' Remofovir Mesylate, an Improved Adefovir Prodrug for Targeted and Tolerable Treatment of Hepatitis B (HBV) Infection
SourceURL:http://www.pharmiweb.com
According to the WHO, 350-400 million individuals are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Chronic infection with hepatitis viruses causes cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, both devastating diseases with few treatments and the demand for effective treatments for hepatitis infection is therefore high. Lamivudine dominates first-line therapy for HBV (see our feature on hepatitis B & C). Gilead's Adefovir prodrug (Hepsera) represent a second line option although nephrotoxicity limits its use to sub-optimal dosing. Valeant are now developing a new prodrug which employs Metabasis' technology to facilitate targeting of adefovir to the liver thus reducing the risk of adverse effects and improving efficacy.
Adefovir (PMEA) is an acyclic phosphonate analogue of adenine shown to be effective against HBV in in vitro and in vivo models. Adefovir is phosphorylated to PMEA diphosphate which is able to competitively inhibit HBV-DNA polymerase and cause DNA chain termination. The limited oral biovailability of adefovir has driven companies to develop prodrugs of this antiviral. In September, 2002, the US FDA approved one such prodrug, adefovir dipivoxil (Hepsera, Gilead) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B infection in adults with evidence of active viral replication and either evidence of persistent elevations in serum aminotransferases (an indication of liver disease) or histologically active disease. The European Commission approved adefovir dipivoxil in March 2003, and by early 2004 the drug was driving annual revenues in excess of $72 million. This figure has been predicted to rise to $250 million by 2006. Adefovir dipivoxil is now the most common second line treatment for HBV when resistance to lamivudine occurs.
Despite the approval of adefovir dipivoxil some experts have expressed concern regarding its safety and indeed an earlier attempt by Gilead to gain approval for its use as a treatment of HIV infection was unsuccessful due to an insufficiently wide therapeutic window. Renal toxicity is dose limiting and prevents adefovir dipivoxil being administered at its maximal HBV antiviral dose. As an alternative to adefovir dipivoxil, the California based Valeant Pharmaceuticals are developing remofovir mesylate.
Metabasis Therapeutics discovered remofovir mesylate using its HepDirect prodrug technology and in October 2001, Valeant in-licensed the drug. HepDirect involves the development of inactive prodrugs that are activated by liver-specific enzymes allowing hepatic targeting of active drug. In the case of remofovir mesylate, conversion of the prodrug to PMEA is driven by cytochrome P4503A4, which is predominantly present in the liver. This contrasts with the activation of adefovir dipivoxil which occurs in the plasma. In a recent edition of the journal Antiviral Chemistry & Chemotherapy Lin et al evaluate the improved targeting and the safety margin of remofovir mesylate.
In an initial whole body autoradiography study, when administered orally at equal doses, Lin et al reported that labelled remofovir mesylate produced 15-fold greater levels of radioactivity in the liver than that after the administration of labelled adefovir dipivoxil. In contract renal radioactivity was 3-fold lower following remofovir mesylate dosing. This suggests markedly improved liver targeting with remofovir mesylate, a finding that was even more evident in monkeys. Although whole body autoradiography provides an indication of the distribution of test compounds it cannot distinguish between administered agents and their metabolites. Further studies were thus conducted to determine the levels of remofovir mesylate and its active metabolite, PMEA in the portal and systemic circulations.
The slow appearance of PMEA in the portal circulation provides evidence of limited intestinal prodrug activation. In contrast the ratio of remofovir mesylate to PMEA in the portal and systemic circulations suggests that activation occurs within the liver.
Toxicology studies revealed that after 28 days of treatment remofovir mesylate was without adverse effects up to 30mg/kg in rats and that in monkeys safety was acceptable at doses of up to 60mg/kg. This compares to adefovir dipivoxil, which in previous studies produced nephropathy at 12mg/kg and 25mg/kg respectively in rats and monkeys over a similar time period.
The present study therefore demonstrates the liver targeting and greater safety profile for remofovir mesylate compared to adefovir dipivoxil. Valeant initiated the first in-man study for remofovir in Europe in August 2002. Dose dependent anti-viral activity was reported and consequently Valeant filed an IND with the FDA in October 2002; a phase 2 trial was initiated in July 2004 and will compare head-to-head remofovir mesylate with adefovir dipivoxil.
Source: LeadDiscovery
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FDA Recommends Approval for BMS Oral Antiviral Agent for Chronic Hep B
SourceURL:http://www.pharmabiz.com
New Jersey - The US FDA Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee has recommended approval of Bristol-Myers Squibb's Baraclude (entecavir), the company's investigational oral antiviral agent under development for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. The company presented pre-clinical and clinical data, and discussed plans for a long-term efficacy and safety programme. The FDA is not bound by the committee's recommendations.
Baraclude is an investigational oral antiviral agent that selectively inhibits the hepatitis B virus. Bristol-Myers Squibb submitted a new drug application (NDA) to the FDA for Baraclude on September 29, 2004, and was granted a six-month Priority Review - a status reserved for investigational agents that may address unmet medical needs, the BMS release stated.
The FDA Advisory Committee reviewed data from the Baraclude clinical development programme, the largest and first actively controlled trials of antivirals in chronic hepatitis B. The trials were designed to compare Baraclude to the most commonly used oral antiviral therapy in the United States, lamivudine, in adult patients with both chronic hepatitis B infection and evidence of active liver inflammation. More than 2,300 patients from five continents participated in the Baraclude clinical programme. A variety of different patients with chronic hepatitis B infection were studied, including both HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative nucleoside-naive patients and lamivudine-refractory patients.
Baraclude demonstrated significant histological improvement and significantly reduced viral load versus lamivudine with a similar safety profile in these three studies at 48 weeks.
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March 17th, 2005
Hepatitis Scare Shuts Down Clinic
SourceURL:http://news.yahoo.com/
Local - WPLG Click10.com
The Miami-Dade County Health Department has shut down a South Florida clinic and is now urging its former patients to undergo testing for Hepatitis B. At least six patients of Dr. Joseph Godorov have reportedly contracted Hepatitis B in the last year. According to the CDC, "Hepatitis B is a serious disease caused by a virus that attacks the liver."
Local 10 News has learned that Godorov, who's an osteopathic physician, worked out of an office at 9055 S.W. 87th Ave. in Miami.
The health department is offering free testing to those who attended that clinic.
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Hepatitis C in Maternity Hospital
SourceURL:http://www.b92.net/english/news
CACAK, BELGRADE -- Thursday -- Three women who gave birth in Cacak Hospital on January 4 this year have been diagnosed as being infected with hepatitis C. A fourth woman who delivered on the same day has not yet been tested for the disease.
Jelena Savovic, who was admitted to an infections diseases ward a month ago with jaundice, has now been discharged. Like the other three families, she claims that she arrived at the maternity hospital healthy and was infected while there.
Her husband, Jovan Savovic, says that he wants the truth.
"We'll sue them, to see if they're responsible, because if this virus is in the maternity hospital, in the operating theatre where the level of hygiene should be highest, what's going on around the rest of the hospital? We'll certainly sue the hospital, we three families," he said.
Two other women are still in an infectious diseases ward while the fourth woman is being treated as an out-patient because she has not yet shown any symptoms of the disease.
The hepatitis C virus is transmitted exclusively by blood and can cause severe liver damage. Ana Misovic, a physician at the Institute for Health Protection in Cacak confirmed that two babies and the husbands of two of the women had tested negative for the virus. Another two babies and their fathers are to be tested today.
Misovic says that how the women contracted the virus is still not known, but that the institute and all appropriate services in Cacak Hospital are working with government health institutions in an attempt to establish the route of infection.
"Procedures in the maternity hospital are now being monitored. The people who were working on January 4 have been tested and all are negative. This is all connected with procedures in the gynaecology and obstetrics department and intensive care is also being included in the investigation being conducted by the epidemiological service," said Misovic.
Investigation and responsibility
Health Minister Tomica Milosavljevic says that there has certainly been a problem in the hospital but adds that there will be no jumping to conclusions before the investigation is finished. "From day to day all measures are being pub in place and as soon as that is finished we will ensure that whoever is responsible bears the consequences.. They will be held responsible in accordance with the law. That means both dismissal, a fine and disciplinary proceedings."
"One per cent of all citizens have the C virus in their blood but do not no it. In thirty per cent of cases they don't know where they caught the C virus. This is a very nasty disease which usually follows medical intervention, sometimes blood transfusions. These women did not receive transfusions, none of them had any kind of intervention during their pregnancy, but all four had Caesarean sections on January 4 or 5. As soon as we have investigated everything connected to these procedures, we will be able to say clearly whether there is personal or joint responsibility involved," said the health minister.
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Schering-Plough Will Provide Hepatitis C Treatment to ADAP Enrollees
SourceURL:http://www.advocate.com/
Drugmaker Schering-Plough has announced a new program that will provide 1,500 people enrolled in state-run AIDS Drug Assistance Programs with a free full course of its experimental combination hepatitis C treatment Peg-Intron and Rebetol. The initiative, called "Commitment to Community," provides HIV-HCV coinfected ADAP clients with Peg-Intron powder for injection and Rebetol capsules to treat hepatitis C and prevent hepatitis-related liver damage and liver cancer. Hepatitis C is emerging as a leading killer of HIV-positive people, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 25% of all HIV-positive Americans are also coinfected with HCV. As many as 90% of HIV-positive injection drug users also carry HCV, according to the CDC.
"With current ADAP funding falling far short of meeting the demand of patients in need, this initiative with Schering-Plough is a creative solution that will yield significant savings to a system in crisis and help bring measurable relief to ADAP programs nationwide," said Julie Scofield, executive director of the National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors. "Providing treatment for hepatitis C treatment through ADAPs adds an additional financial burden for many state ADAPs. NASTAD's ADAP Crisis Task Force worked collaboratively with Schering-Plough to create this unique program so that we can now provide ADAP patients access to hepatitis C therapy."
The program will be administered through Schering-Plough's larger patient assistance program that provides medications to low-income Americans who can't get access to a variety of medical treatments. In addition to access to free medicine, hepatitis C patients covered by ADAP will have access to Schering-Plough's free, personalized patient support program, "Be in Charge," which offers round-the-clock toll-free telephone access to a nurse counselor and other educational tools to help patients cope with the physical and emotional impact of hepatitis C, as well as the rigors of treatment. The support program can be reached by calling (888) 437-2608 or on the Internet at www.beincharge.com. For more information about Schering-Plough's patient assistance program call (800) 521-7157.
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Campaign Launched to Identify and Treat Hepatitis C Carriers
SourceURL:http://www.jpost.com
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
A two-month publicity campaign has been launched with the Health Ministry's "encouragement" to diagnose hepatitis C carriers at an early stage and get them treated with new drugs that can cure the dangerous condition in more than 65 percent of all cases.
There are an estimated 60,000 carriers of the potentially fatal disease in Israel, and most of them have no idea they are carriers.
There is no preventive vaccine against hepatitis C, which can cause cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer decades after infection. The viral disease is spread mostly by blood contact with a carrier and only rarely by sexual contact (unlike hepatitis B, for which there is an effective vaccine).
The campaign is being launched by the Israel Association of Family Physicians and the Israel Society for Liver Research. High-risk groups of all ages, including children, are urged to go for the simple, free blood test for the largely symptomless disease.
People at high risk include those who received a blood transfusion before 1992, when Magen David Adom's blood bank began to test for the virus and people who were exposed to infected syringes or needles. Among these are immigrants from Eastern European countries who were vaccinated with multi-use (instead of disposable) syringes, which were not properly sterilized.
The prevalence of hepatitis C is one percent in the world, but in some countries as in the former Soviet Union it is as high as 30% due to the use of non-disposable syringes in previous years.
One-fifth of untreated carriers will develop cirrhosis (chronic malfunction of the liver) and even liver cancer. Hepatitis C is the leading cause of disease requiring a liver transplant.
A new survey conducted for the organizers by the Mutagim company interviewed a representative sample of Hebrew-speaking adults plus 507 Russian-speakers. It found that only a third of the general population had heard of hepatitis C, compared to half of the Russian speakers. But most of both groups had no idea how the disease is spread and were ignorant of the fact that new drugs can cure it thanks to significant improvements in the medical treatment of hepatitis C.
The new interferon-alpha treatment involves shots and pills given for six to 12 months, depending on the genotype of the virus. The health funds provide these medications voluntarily – with participation in the costs by patients – as they are not yet in the basket of health services approved by the Health Ministry. However, application for the drugs to be included in the basket has been made for this year, and the ministry's public committee that recommends additions to the basket is now discussing their inclusion.
The two-month campaign, to begin on Thursday in Hebrew and Russian, includes newspaper ads, the distribution of pamphlets and phone lines for information (1-800-203080 in Hebrew and 1-800-203070 in Russian), manned by trained doctors and nurses. A Web site with information is at www.hepatitisonline.org, and information can be obtained on a permanent basis from the Association of Hepatitis Patients at 054-5694404.
Side effects from the drugs are considered minimal. Hepatitis C carriers should observe a diet low in salt and alcohol.
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Singer Trying to Raise Hepatitis C Awareness
SourceURL:http://www.kvue.com
By ERIN OCHOA / KVUE News
Some call it the epidemic of the 21st century. About 4 million people nationwide have Hepatitis C. One Texas legend is using his big name to talk about this growing problem.
Ray Benson is best known for his powerful voice and recently he started using it to talk about a growing problem. Six years ago, Benson was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, a potentially deadly disease that strikes the liver.
"I thought it was a death sentence," Benson said. "So with it goes a bit of depression."
Up to 70 percent of those infected with the disease may not even know they have it.
Screening for the disease is critical because not everyone who is infected will show symptoms.
Benson is one of those with no symptoms. That's why he is pushing for testing for people considered "at risk."
"Everybody who's had a tattoo should be tested," Benson said. "That's how I contracted Hepatitis C ... through a tattoo in 1977."
Ginger Busboom is the founder of the Liver Foundation of Central Texas. Last year, the group teamed up with People's Community Clinic to offer free testing for people who can't afford it.
"There is a large population of people across the nation, but particularly in Texas, that don't know they have Hep C," Busboom said. "The risk factors include history of IV drug use, tattooing, body piercing, of course blood transfusion ... any kind of exposure to blood products in any form."
As many as 360,000 people in Texas have the disease. Close to 16,000 of them live in Travis County. Reports of infection in the music community have also increased.
"Face it. Musicians live on the edge a lot. They do a lot of things that are probably risky, including drug taking and alcohol consumption," Benson said.
Hepatitis C will be the focus of a South by Southwest panel called "Living with Hep C."
It's at noon Saturday at the Austin Convention Center.
The free screenings fall on the third Thursday of each month from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
That's tomorrow at People's Community Clinic at 2909 North I-35.
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Safe Drug-Injection Sites Reduce Needle-Sharing, HIV Spread, Study Suggests
SourceURL:http://news.yahoo.com
BY SHERYL UBELACKER
TORONTO (CP) - Giving addicts a safe, supervised place to inject drugs may help reduce syringe-sharing, thereby preventing the spread of hepatitis C and HIV /AIDS, Canadian research suggests.
A University of British Columbia study has found that drug users who regularly use Vancouver's safe-injection site in the city's gritty eastside are 70 per cent less likely to share needles than those who give the facility a pass.
"This is extremely important because Vancouver has been the site of one of the most explosive HIV epidemics among injection-drug users that has ever been observed in the developed world," said Thomas Kerr, a researcher at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and lead author of the study.
"We know syringe sharing is the primary driving factor of these two epidemics," Kerr said from Vancouver. "So it's very good news to have identified an intervention that seems to be having some type of protective effect."
But addiction experts, noting that the number of participants in the study was small and the city's drug-abuse problem complex, say the injection site's impact on curtailing needle-sharing should not be overstated.
The study, appearing in this week's issue of the Lancet, looked at the habits of 431 injection-drug users to see how many shared syringes to shoot up heroin, cocaine, crystal meth or other drugs. About 90 - or 21 per cent - reported visiting North America's only safe-injection clinic for "some, most or all of their injections," said Kerr.
Seventy per cent of those who made use of the injection site reported being less likely to share syringes "than individuals who used the facility only occasionally or not at all," said Kerr. "Given the history of HIV and hepatitis C epidemics in Vancouver and in other places in Canada, this finding is significant." The prevalence of blood-borne diseases among Vancouver injection-drug users is high: about 30 per cent have HIV/AIDS and 95 per cent are infected with hepatitis C.
But Benedikt Fischer, a senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said Thursday the study's findings are not surprising, given that a major aim of the site is to prevent needle sharing.
Dubbed InSite, the clinic opened in September 2003 to provide a safe alternative to the streets for Vancouver addicts to inject drugs. Sterile syringes and water are provided, and nurses oversee injections to help prevent overdose deaths and to offer addiction counselling and treatment referrals. In the last 12 months, an average of almost 600 drug users visited the site each day.
Yet studies have shown that most injectors don't utilize such facilities - there are also about a dozen in Europe and one in Sydney, Australia - for the majority of their drug hits, Fischer said. "Rather, people go there once in a while or when it's convenient, or they use those facilities irregularly."
Realistically, someone who is hooked on heroin or cocaine, and may inject up to 20 times a day, is not going to wait in line at an injection clinic after scoring drugs from a dealer, he said. Hungry for a hit, most will shoot up on the street, in a vehicle or back alley - and that may involve using contaminated needles.
While he believes safe-injection sites can be an important part of the puzzle in tackling the risks and harmful outcomes associated with drug-injection, Fischer calls them a small piece of a much bigger picture.
"You cannot generalize that finding and go out and say, 'Look, we've proven that if we set up safe-injection facilities that injectors across the board will decrease needle sharing.' That's not what the data show."
In an accompanying Lancet editorial, Wayne Hall of the University of Queensland in Australia agrees that only a fraction of Vancouver's drug injectors use InSite.
"It is generally optimistic to expect a single facility to reduce overdose deaths and infections by blood-borne viruses in the community, even if the facility is shown to reduce risk behaviour in patrons," Hall writes.
Still, Kerr said the study definitely shows a change in behaviour since InSite opened.
The researchers, who have been following about 1,500 drug users since 1996 with twice-yearly interviews and blood tests, looked at reports on needle-sharing in the 431 participants both before and after the centre opened.
"What's particularly interesting is that the difference in syringe sharing really only emerged after the facility opened."
The December 2003-June 2004 study also found that people who need help shooting up - nurses at InSite are prohibited by law from aiding injection - are three times more likely to share needles, while binge injectors are twice as likely to use someone else's syringe.
The idea of providing havens for drug users to get high has proved controversial, with opponents - especially in the United States and the United Kingdom - claiming the sites promote drug use and do nothing to get people off illegal substances.
That's why continuing research into sites in Vancouver and elsewhere is critical, said Kerr. "I think that this study helps inform discussions about the merits of such facilities."
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Reagent of Hepatitis C Donated
http://www.myanmar.com
YANGON, 17 March — Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) donated medical equipment worth US $ 20,000 to be used in test of hepatitis C to Yangon General Hospital on 15 March.
Before the donation, the Resident Representative of KOICA explained the purpose of the donation. Afterwards, a total of 9,000 Test Kits for hepatitis C check-up were donated to the National Blood Centre and 1,000 Test Kits to the Liver Special Care Unit. Next, Medical Superintendent Dr Daw Nu Nu Tha of YGH expressed thanks and presented the certificates of honours to the donors.
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March 18th, 2005
10m Hepatitis C, 5m Hepatitis B Patients in Pakistan
SourceURL:http://www.pakistanlink.com
LAHORE, March 18 : Around 10 million patients are suffering from Hepatitis C and five million from Hepatitis B in Pakistan.
Allama Iqbal Medical College principal and Pakistan Society of Hepatology (PSH) president Dr Syed Sibtul Hassnain stated this while addressing a press conference held in connection with the Liver Day being observed on March 19 in collaboration with PSH.
The Hepatitis Symposium will be held at the college auditorium. The Jinnah Hospital medical superintendent Dr Zahid Pervez and director administration Dr Suhail were also present during the press conference. Dr Sibtul Hassnain said the Hepatitis was hitting backward and remote areas and places where poverty existed.
One could witness the disease in the interior Sindh, Southern Punjab and Southern NWFP and district Sialkot (Punjab) border areas, he added.
He dispelled the impression that contaminated water was causing serious Hepatitis problems and said it was causing only Hepatitis A and E having an epidemic period of six to eights weeks. He stressed the need for creating awareness against the disease.
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March 19th, 2005
Newly Identified Protein May Inhibit Hepatitis Virus
SourceURL:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
A newly identified family of proteins may inhibit replication of the Hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) viruses say researchers from California. Their findings appear in the March 2005 issue of the Journal of Virology.
Hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) are viruses that infect the liver, and in some cases can cause liver failure requiring a transplant for survival. The protein interferon, produced by animal cells when they are invaded by viruses, is released into the bloodstream or intercellular fluid to induce healthy cells to manufacture an enzyme that counters the infection. One class of interferons (alpha) is used to treat chronic infection with HBV and HCV. There is a vaccine available to prevent the spread of HBV but not HCV.
In the study, a new class of interferons, interferon lambda, was tested for its ability to inhibit HBV and HCV replication. Results showed 90% inhibition of HBV after twenty-four hours and 90-99% inhibition in HCV five days posttreatment.
"We have demonstrated here that replication of HBV and HCV is sensitive to the antiviral activities of interferon lambda," say the researchers. "These results suggest the possibility that interferon lambda may be therapeutically useful in the treatment of chronic HBV or HCV infection."
Source: M.D. Robek, B.S. Boyd, F.V. Chisari. 2005. Lambda interferon inhibits hepatitis B and C virus replication. Journal of Virology, 79. 6: 3851-3854.
Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology
Contact: Jim Sliwa
jsliwa@asmusa.org
202-942-9297
American Society for Microbiology
http://www.asm.org
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Escovedo Glad to Be Back on His Feet
SourceURL:http://www.news8austin.com
By: Allie Rasmus
It wasn't too long ago when musician Alejandro Escovedo was hospitalized with hepatitis C.
"I had been dealing with it for years, and about two years ago my body just broke down ... Not only was there a sense I might not play [guitar] again, there was a sense I might not do anything again," Escovedo said.
Back then the possibility of playing his guitar again seemed remote.
"I didn't even pick up my guitar for a whole year, and I had been playing it every day for 28 years," Escovedo said.
But the guitarist got by with a little help from his friends.
Musicians held benefit concerts around the country to help pay for medical expenses. A concert at Austin's Paramount Theater benefited the Alejandro Fund, a nonprofit organization founded to assist other uninsured musicians with hepatitis C.
Now, two years later Escovedo is glad to be back on his feet and performing in Austin at Auditorium Shores for South by Southwest.
Last year's South by Southwest festival was the first time Escovedo had performed since his hospitalization. He said the performance last year was physically demanding, but now he feels "80 percent better."
"My friends have been telling me that every show since then they can see I'm getting more comfortable in my skin. It feels good. I'm in a good place," Escovedo said. "It's great that I'm able to play again. It's like a whole new lease on life. That's really how I feel."
Escovedo had no trouble getting the crowd moving at Auditorium Shores for Friday night's free performance. His show was followed by a performance from Ian Hunter.
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