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| 2007 | ||
| Hepatitis C Medication - 2007 | ||
In Search of a Better Hepatitis C MedicationBy Cai Ewing |
2007 Article Links Benefits of ASM Membership | |
“Take both interferon and ribavirin every week for a year. Take these medications on Friday after work so you can stay in bed sick over the weekend. With interferon, you have a 20 to 30 percent chance of clearing the hepatitis C virus from your body. With both interferon and ribavirin, you have a 40 percent chance of getting rid of the virus. There is no vaccine, so you have to be careful not to expose anyone else. ” If your doctor told you this, would you take these medications? Nick, a 54-year-old man diagnosed with hepatitis C (inflammation of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus) nearly 40 years ago, has never taken hepatitis C medications. For Nick, this was a decision he does not regret. After nearly 40 years of living with this viral infection, he is still asymptomatic. But for the 20 to 50 percent of people who do experience symptoms, taking these medications is their only medical treatment option. Unfortunately, Nick saw many of his friends experience severe depression as a direct result. He has seen twelve people go through the interferon/ribavirin agony with only two of them having recovered from this infection. The hepatitis C virus, first identified in1988, has proven to be a challenging pathogen. |
The hepatitis C virus does not grow in cell cultures or in laboratory animals, making research for a cure more difficult and expensive. According to Nick, one of the major problems with the hepatitis C research is simply that there is a lack of funding. He believes this is because most hepatitis C patients are current or former intravenous drug users like him. Nick likens the funding problems of hepatitis C research to those of the early 1980s AIDS research before celebrities such as Rock Hudson and Magic Johnson became spokespersons for people who have this infection. Though medication formulation and research is difficult and expensive, better medications could help the nearly 1 out of every 50 Americans who have contracted the hepatitis C virus. According to the CDC, approximately 60 percent of all new cases are intravenous drug users, but many hemodialysis patients, blood-organ recipients, and healthcare workers have also contracted hepatitis C. These people need better options than those currently available. With a medication that can more reliably get rid of hepatitis C, the community as a whole would be less susceptible to the virus. Cai Ewing is a junior at the University of New Mexico. |
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Rio Grande Branch of the American Society for Microbiology |