Treating The New Hep C Generation On Their Turf
One Northern California physician is a foot soldier in the fight against a surge of hepatitis C, mainly among young drug users who share infected needles.
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One Northern California physician is a foot soldier in the fight against a surge of hepatitis C, mainly among young drug users who share infected needles.
The two FDA-approved manufacturers of the vaccine, hit by an unexpected spike in demand, have had difficulty keeping pace. In San Diego County, home to the deadliest outbreak in the nation, officials are postponing a campaign to give at-risk residents the second of two doses.
The drug, sold under the name Mavyret, can cure all six genetic types of the liver disease in eight weeks at a cost of $26,400, well below other options.
Hundreds of people, most of them homeless, have been infected. In San Diego County, where 17 people have died, critics fault authorities for being slow to act.
Several public health officials endorse using a federal law to slash hepatitis C drug prices in Louisiana and avoid drug bills that could cripple the state budget.
The drugs, approved by the FDA for children earlier this month, can run $100,000 for a course of treatment.
A Seattle program pioneers palliative care that reaches dying patients on streets and in shelters.
Charlie Oen was addicted to heroin as a teenager. At 25, he's now clean and a peer counselor in Lima, Ohio, where he tries to help people who started using drugs before he was born.
Some churches and other faith-based organizations are offering clean syringes to IV drug users, while still others are voicing their support for comprehensive treatment, testing and education programs that also help stem transmission of diseases like HIV and hepatitis C.
Members of the military are more than twice as likely to have contracted hepatitis C than the general population. For many, the effects are felt years after the infection began.
A Miami doctor spent five years working to pass a needle exchange law for Miami-Dade County that he hopes will reduce HIV and other infections. The doctor’s battle inspired a patient who was infected with HIV and Hepatitis C from a shared needle.
Over the past few months, Massachusetts, Florida, New York, Delaware and Washington have lifted restrictions on the expensive medications, and private insurers around the country are also making the changes.
Maryland’s prisons and jails release thousands of inmates each year without helping them enroll in Medicaid, jeopardizing their health and putting communities at greater risk.
An MIT economist and Harvard oncologist propose offering loans to patients to cover the cost of expensive, curative drugs, financed by private sector investment in loan securities.
Treating Hep C is expensive, but new drugs can quickly cure the disease, ultimately saving money.
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