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The Indiana Viral Hepatitis Resource Guide is a work in progress. The information gathered through the Hepatitis Provider Inventory Survey is now being compiled into one document to create the resource guide. The completed resource guide, upon completion, will be available on an Indiana State Department of Health webpage. Thank you for your efforts to provide a great resource for Indiana residents.
Hepatitis C: A crisis in the African American Community
The National Medical Association released a milestone Consensus Panel Report, titled Hepatitis C: A Crisis in the African American Community. This report was the work of a group of physicians/researchers, federal government representatives, policy analysts, health education experts, community advocates, and more. The group set out to address 6 key questions, and what they found, in summary, was that there was little data on the prevalence of HCV in the African American Community, African Americans have unique risk factors for HCV, there are disparities in the screening, diagnosis and treatment of HCV, and there are differences in treatment responsiveness among African Americans. To read the full report, click here.
New Drug Approved to Treat Chronic Hepatitis C
On November 22, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Simeprevir (Olysio), a protease inhibitor from Jansen Pharmaceuticals, to treat chronic hepatitis C infections. The new drug is indicated for adults with compensated liver disease, including cirrhosis, who have yet to receive treatment for hepatitis C, or who have not responded well to previous treatments. The FDA said simeprevir is designed as one component of a combination antiviral therapy regimen. To read more click on the following link, http://bit.ly/1enfUua
Please note that the aforementioned article and specifically named products or companies mentioned in the above article does not constitute an endorsement of any product or company by the ISDH.
Hepatitis C Virus and Coinfection with HIV Training Manual For Treatment Advocates:
The purpose of this manual is to provide information for you and your community. This information can be used to advocate for access to prevention and diagnosis of, and care and treatment for, hepatitis C virus (HCV). It is
designed it to help you understand basic information about hepatitis C and coinfection with HIV: how it is transmitted, how to prevent hepatitis C, how a person can find out if he or she has hepatitis C, what happens to both HIV-negative and HIV-positive people who have hepatitis C, information used for making treatment decisions, and treatment options.
There are discussion points and action steps at the end of each section. The discussion points are intended to start conversations about the key issues raised in each section. The action steps are intended to start conversations about how to translate the key issues into advocacy in the community and to allow participants to find solutions together.
To download the Manual click here.
Hepatitis C Online Course
The CDC supports the Hepatitis C Online Course, which has been featured in the newsletter before, but below are the links to all four modules:
Hepatitis C Online Course is a self-study, interactive course for medical providers on Hepatitis C infection. Features include a color coded master bibliography, embedded video, and clinical calculators. The project is brought to you by the University of Washington in collaboration with the International Antiviral Society-USA (IAS-USA). Free CME credit and free CNE credit are available. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dialysis Safety website
Infections are a leading cause of death in hemodialysis patients. Receiving safe care and avoiding infectious complications are of utmost importance to patients. Reducing infections requires diligence from both providers and patients. CDC is providing three new resources for preventing infections in dialysis patients:
The poster and pocket guide are available for order through the CDC-INFO warehouse. Click to edit this placeholder text.
Experimental Hepatitis C Drug May Treat the Untreatable
A new drug, a single pill combined two investigational drugs, sofosbuvir and ledipasvir. In clinical trials showed success in treating hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in nearly all patients who took it (Lancet, 2013).
The study author stated, "Ninety-five percent of patients new to hepatitis C virus therapy who took eight weeks of the sofosbuvir/ledipasvir combination tablet were HCV undetectable 24 weeks after therapy ended..." To the full article click here.
Influence of HIV Infection on Response to Tenofovir in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B
HIV worsens the natural history of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Suppression of HBV replication slows progression of liver damage. Information about the influence of HIV on response to tenofovir in HIV/HBV-coinfected patients is scarce. All individuals with persistent HBsAg+ at four clinics in Spain were identified. Information from the subset that initiated tenofovir therapy was examined. In multivariate analysis, baseline serum HBV-DNA was the only predictor of virological response to tenofovir. In conclusion, The antiviral efficacy of tenofovir is similar in HIV/HBV-coinfected and HBV-monoinfected patients, achieving undetectable HBV-DNA nearly 90% of patients at week 96 of therapy. Read the full article by clicking here.
Primary Care Options for Hepatitis C Treatment Cost-Effective
The Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) program, which trains primary care physicians to treat patients infected with hepatitis C in underserved communities, is cost-effective, a new analysis shows.
The ECHO program, developed at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, uses teleconferencing to help primary care physicians and specialists at the university comanage patients with chronic hepatitis C infection in 16 underserved rural areas and 5 correctional facilities.
Initial efficacy findings for 407 patients showed that the rates of sustained viral response at ECHO sites were nearly identical to those at university clinics (58.2% vs 57.5%) (N Engl J Med. 2011;364:2199-2207). To read more, click here.
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