Pubdate: Mon, 28 Jul 2014
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2014 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.montrealgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Marie-Eve Morin
Note: Marie-Eve Morin is a doctor at Clinique Opus in Montreal. she 
specializes in drug addiction and mental health.
Page: A18

WE NEED MORE ROUTINE TESTING FOR HEPATITIS C

On this 28th day of July, marking 25 years since the discovery of the 
hepatitis C virus, we are calling attention to World Hepatitis Day. 
Why? To begin with, because more than 50,000 Quebecers have the 
disease. In Canada, the figure is 300,000 to 350,000 people, more 
than a quarter of whom do not know they have it.

Next, because there are new, highly effective treatments for treating 
and eradicating hepatitis C, with cure rates exceeding 90 per cent. 
However, in Canada, fewer than 5 per cent of people with hepatitis C 
have, to date, obtained treatment for it. Hepatitis C is transmitted 
through the blood. In other words, any act that can cause the blood 
of two individuals to come into contact can constitute a risk of 
transmission: parlour-based tattooing and piercing; sharing drug-use 
equipment and personal-hygiene items; transfusion prior to 1992; and 
sometimes even certain risky sexual practices.

In fact, 60 per cent of affected individuals are current or former 
intravenous drug users. Today, they are lawyers, teachers and parents 
who hope to rid themselves of the virus.

There are those who use drugs because of a dependency and for whom 
treatment is often an incentive for stopping using drugs. So, why is 
access to treatment limited to fewer than 5 per cent of affected individuals?

In 2012, Ipsos surveyed close to 1,000 Canadians and 300 family 
doctors for the Canadian Liver Foundation: 57 per cent of the doctors 
said they did not know that hepatitis C can be cured. More Canadians 
have been screened for HIV (32 per cent) than for hepatitis C (23 per 
cent). However, in Canada, there are approximately five or six 6 
cases of hepatitis C for every case of HIV.

We have to talk, then, about hepatitis C, to encourage Canadians to get tested.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has 
proposed that all baby boomers (born-between 1946 and 1966) be tested 
at least once in their lifetime.

In Canada, the recommendation is slow in coming, even if this disease 
results in the loss of a higher number of years of life and in 
greater morbidity than any other infectious disease.

It is also to be hoped that with the advent of multiple new 
combinations of completely oral treatments in the next two years, 
screening, management and access to treatment will improve. For this 
to happen, we will have to invest in healthcare infrastructure, such 
as by increasing the number of health professionals adequately 
trained to treat hepatitis C.

As a physician, I can say that telling a patient that he or she has 
been cured of hepatitis C brings immense satisfaction. However, the 
joy of being cured must bring an enormous amount of pride.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom