"Because Hepatitis C Virus goes unnoticed for such long periods,
the source of a person's infection is often hard to know. But there
are several well-known risk factors. Anyone who received a blood
transfusion before 1992 could easily have been exposed. The danger
was especially high in the 1960s, when blood banks paid donors and
screening was lax. Hepatitis C Virus infected a third of all transfusion recipients
between 1960 and '65, according to Dr. Adrian Di Bisceglie of St.
Louis University, and the infection rate is close to 100 percent
among hemophiliacs who received clotting factors before the mid-1980s
Health workers with a history of accidental needle sticks are also
at risk. No U.S. clinic would operate today without a secure receptacle
for used medical implements, but plastic garbage bags were still
the norm when Andi Thomas worked as a medical assistant in the late
1970s. She jabbed herself often during her two years at a multispecialty
clinic in Miami Beach. Her ALT levels shot up in 1979, but when
antibody tests for hepatitis A and B came back negative, her doctor
guessed that social drinking was to blame. Her Hepatitis C Virus went undiagnosed
until 1996, when another doctor saw her enzyme levels and recommended
testing.
Today, thanks to blood screening and other safeguards, the risk
of getting hep C is negligible in Western medical settings. But
IV drug abuse poses an overwhelming risk. Hepatitis C Virus replicates rapidly,
reaching high concentrations in the blood of infected people. And
because a small amount of blood can harbor a large dose of virus,
a nearly sterile syringe can easily spread the infection. The odds
of contracting the AIDS virus from a single prick with a tainted
needle are less than one in 300, notes Dr. Stuart Ray, an infectious-disease
specialist at Johns Hopkins. The odds are 10 times that high if
the needle harbors Hepatitis C Virus. In Baltimore, where Hopkins researchers
have followed IV drug users for the past dozen years, 20 percent
are infected with HIV-80 percent with hep C. Most contract Hepatitis C Virus within
six months of their first encounter with a needle." Hepatitis
C: The Insidious Spread of a Killer Virus
While many believe that Hepatitis is only contracted through IV
drug use, there are many other sources for the infection: from sharing
a toothbrush, electric razor, poor medical treatment and there are
many others. Hepatitis is far more contagious than HIV/AIDS and
yet many are unaware of the potentially fatal disease.
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Identifying
high-risk carriers of infectious diseases is worth the effort
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Sexually transmitted diseases
(STDs) call for discrimination. Containing the spread of an
STD by focusing on promiscuous individuals, who are most
likely to pass it on, should be cheaper and more effective
than large-scale random campaigns, according to two new
mathematical analyses1,2.
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Illegal
Drug Users Need/Deserve Treatment for Hepatitis C
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University of California-San
Francisco (UCSF) researchers are recommending that illicit
drug users should be eligible to receive treatment for the
hepatitis C virus.
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Incidence
of seroconversion to positivity for hepatitis C antibody in
repeat blood donors in England, 1993-5
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Objective: To estimate the rate
of seroconversion to positivity for hepatitis C antibody in
repeat blood donors in England and to describe the probable
routes of infection in these donors.
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Incidence
of seroconversion to positivity for Hepatitis C antibody in
repeat blood donors in England
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To estimate the rate of
seroconversion to positivity for Hepatitis C Virus antibody in repeat blood
donors in England
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PDF
/ 221 KB
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Information
on Hepatitis B
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Hepatitis B is a virus that
infects the liver and usually causes progressive damage by
bringing the immune cells into the liver and invoking an
inflammatory response. The general word "hepatitis"
indicates the presence of this inflammatory response. Once the
inflammation (presence of pus cells) begins, fibrosis (scar
tissue) may form and eventually a patient may develop
cirrhosis liver failure and liver cancer. Liver
transplantation is a possible treatment for hepatitis B
induced liver failure but recurrence of the infection in new
the new liver is still a problem in some patients.
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Japanese
woman dies after hepatitis B infection from tainted blood
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A Japanese women died last June after being infected with
hepatitis B from a tainted blood donor, a report said, adding
to renewed concerns over laxity in the nation's blood
screening process.
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Lack of evidence
for the heterosexual transmission of hepatitis C |
The
importance of sexual transmission in the epidemiology of
hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is still
controversial. To assess the risk of heterosexual
HCV transmission, we examined
eighty patients with chronic HCV-associated liver disease
and their spouses in a cross-sectional clinical and
serological cohort study. |
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Liver
Injury Associated with Hepatitis C Infection
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The role of the host immune
response in determining clinical outcome following hepatitis B
virus (HBV) infection is well recognized.1 In patients
infected with hepatitis B, therapies, diseases, or conditions
that impair specific lymphocyte responses lead to a high rate
of chronic infection; in addition, the vigor of the host
T-cell response to HBV-encoded antigenic peptides appears to
correlate directly with the degree of acute hepatocellular
injury and inversely with levels of HBV viremia
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Medscape-Controversies
in Hepatitis C
|
The World Health Organization has
recognized Hepatitis C Virus as a major public health problem. Over 170
million cases of chronic Hepatitis C Virus infection are present throughout
the world, with over 4 million chronic carriers in the
United States. Therefore, it is imperative that we find a
successful treatment for this often-fatal disease.
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Needle
Use Soars In Young Heroin Users
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The number of young heroin
addicts in New Jersey who said they injected the drug spiked
sharply in the last decade, state health officials say. And
they suspect the problem isn't unique to the Garden State
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Needle-Exchange
Program Cut Hepatitis C Transmission Rate
|
According to a report presented
to the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease,
injection drug users who began injecting drugs after the 1993
legalization of a safe needle program in San Francisco had a
much lower risk of contracting hepatitis C virus (Hepatitis C Virus) than
those who started earlier.
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One
in Four Heroin Injectors Infected With Hepatitis C
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A new report in the Journal of
Infectious Diseases (2000;182:1588-1594) indicates that
approximately 25 percent of Chicago-area injection drug users
are infected with the hepatitis C virus (Hepatitis C Virus). Researchers
found that the risk of contracting the disease is greater the
longer and more frequent a person uses injection drugs.
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Opportunistic
Infections and Coinfections: Focus on Fungi and Hepatitis
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One of the most prominent
features of the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)
era has been the positive impact on opportunistic infections (OIs).
In particular, among patients with good immunologic and
virologic responses to HAART, it has proved possible to stop
primary prophylaxis and maintenance therapy in patients with
previously active infections.
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Outbreak
of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in a Hemodialysis Unit:
Potential Transmission by the Hemodialysis Machine?
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To identify the routes of
transmission during an outbreak of infection with hepatitis C
virus (Hepatitis C Virus) genotype 2a/2c in a hemodialysis unit.
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Piercing
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You should make sure your piercer
uses clean and sterilized equipment because it's possible to
contract HIV and Hepatitis B and C, among other blood borne
diseases, from a piercing needle. Hepatitis B can survive
outside the body for days, so your chances of contracting it
from a contaminated needle is greater than your risk of HIV,
which dies quickly once outside the body.
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Prevalent
Hepatitis C: Differences Among Young Adult Injection Drug
Users in Lower and Upper Manhattan, New York
City
|
Several differences in factors
associated with prevalent Hepatitis C Virus infection existed among 2
populations of young injection drug users from the same city.
Indirect transmission of Hepatitis C Virus may occur.
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Recommendations
for Prevention and control of Hepatitis C Virus Infection and
Hepatitis C -related Chronic Disease
|
Report from the Center for
Disease Control
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PDF
/ 490KB
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Snorting drugs and Hepatitis C transmission-
where's the link? |
Research in the UK among HIV positive gay men
who have recently acquired hepatitis C has shown intranasal
cocaine use to exist alongside other potential risk factors
for hepatitis C transmission, including unprotected sex and
having untreated sexually transmitted infections. |
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Shots
Snafu Puts Newborns at Risk
|
A temporary change in vaccine
recommendations for infants has lasted longer than intended
and could be endangering newborns, the government says.
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Sources of Hepatitis C Infection
(Large file-please allow extra time for download) |
Power
Point Presentation |
1585 kb pdf |
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Spousal Transmission of the Hepatitis C Virus? |
In the
face of this uncertainty, how should the HCV-infected
person be counseled regarding routine behavior in the
household setting and with respect to sexual
activities? Undoubtedly, any practice that promotes
transfer of blood or blood-contaminated body fluids
should be entirely proscribed. This would include
the sharing of toothbrushes, dental appliances, razors, and
nail-grooming equipment. Little evidence implicates
shared eating utensils, glassware, or crockery in
the transmission of this virus. By far the greater
concern is what advice to offer regarding sexual
practices. |
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STD
Screening, testing, case reporting, and clinical and partner
notification practices
|
This study presents results from
a national survey of US physicians that assessed screening,
case reporting, partner management and clinical practices for
syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and HIV HIV infection
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PDF
/ 115KB
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The
Hepatitis Report: A Critical Review of the Research and
Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus (Hepatitis C Virus) and Hepatitis & HIV
Coinfection
|
Physicians and patients must
carefully weigh the risks (which are clinically significant in
the case of treatment with interferon alfa-2b and ribavirin),
the benefits (moderate in this instance), and the cost
(substantial in this instance) of any treatment option for a
disease that has emerged as an important public health
problem.
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The
Significance of Liver Enzyme Elevations
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Abnormal laboratory values and
Carbohydrate deficient Transferrin
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PDF
/ 48KB
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Transmission of Hepatitis C by blood
splash to eyes |
The risk
of transmission of hepatitis C virus (Hepatitis C Virus) infection is an
important problem for the health care worker. Hepatitis C Virus transmission
by blood splashing into eyes is very rare |
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Transmission of Hepatitis Viruses |
To prevent
and control transmission within populations, effective
vaccines exist for two of the hepatitis viruses. The
challenge is to develop effective strategies for
vaccine delivery. |
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Two
Moms Want Shots Deep-Sixed
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In a case that could set a
precedent in the ongoing battle over immunization rights, two
Arkansas women are suing in federal court to stop the state
from forcing their children to be vaccinated.
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U.S.
Travelers Clueless About Hepatitis Risk
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With more Americans traveling to
exotic locales, a new survey shows few seem to understand the
risks for serious liver diseases that await them.
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UNIVERSAL
PRECAUTIONS FOR PREVENTION OF TRANSMISSION OF HIV AND OTHER
BLOODBORNE INFECTIONS
|
"Universal
precautions," as defined by CDC, are a set of precautions
designed to prevent transmission of human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and other bloodborne
pathogens when providing first aid or health care. Under
universal precautions, blood and certain body fluids of all
patients are considered potentially infectious for HIV, HBV
and other bloodborne pathogens.
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Vaginal laceration is a risk factor for Hepatitis C
transmission in childbirth
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Children delivered vaginally and whose mothers sustained a
perineal or vaginal laceration had a six-fold higher risk of
hepatitis C virus (Hepatitis C Virus) than vaginally delivered children
whose mothers had no laceration, according to a retrospective
study of 73 Hepatitis C Virus-positive pregnant women who gave birth to 75
children.
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viral hepatitis & drug
use
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Millions of Americans have viral hepatitis.
It is particularly significant problem among injection
drug users. Growing awareness of this problem is leading to new
initiative, but efforts to prevent these diseases and reduce
their medical, financial, and social costs face challenges.
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Pdf 61 kb
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