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How many times have you started to have a conversation with someone about Hepatitis C only to have it blow up in your face? Have you ever heard someone say something about Hep C that didn't seem quite right to you? You were probably right something was amiss. A discussion about Hepatitis C can...
As per Wikipedia, the definition of a stigma is as follows: "Stigma is a word that originally means a "sign", "point", or "branding mark"." Wikipedia goes on to call stigma "A badge of shame, a physical mark of infamy or disgrace." Damn that w...
Recently, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) issued a statement that all Baby Boomers should be tested for Hepatitis C. The question often comes up as to why this particular segment of people is so vulnerable. What does being born between 1945 and 1965 have to do with Hepatitis C? What was di...
Buyer Beware! There are several snake oil salesmen out there who are claiming to have cured their own Hepatitis C with herbs, supplements and parking lot gravel. Okay, maybe not the parking lot gravel but it might as well be. What you need to remember is that there are two different types of...
Most every adult woman (and an occasional man) has enjoyed a manicure and a pedicure at a nail salon or spa. That 30 minute pedicure can be so relaxing but are you aware of the danger lurking in that nail salon? Although few individuals recognize the medical risks associated with this common pr...
New research suggests that even previous non-responders to Hepatitis C treatment could benefit from the medications they once took.
It is easy to think of treating an illness in black or white terms - defined as cured or not cured. However, there may be shades of grey in-between these extremes. A large study conducted at the University of Washington in Seattle has found that interpreting a Hepatitis C treatment outcome may not be cut and dry.
Successful Hepatitis C Treatment Definition
Affecting an estimated 4 to 5 million Americans, Hepatitis C is a major public health problem. Because those with this virus are typically asymptomatic for several years, it is often not detected until the illness is in the late stages. Hepatitis C that has progressed to advanced liver disease can have serious consequences such as cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver failure.
Since Hepatitis C was categorized in the early 90s, getting rid of this tenacious liver viral infection has proved to be a monumental challenge. The current triple-drug treatment regimen boasts a 75 percent success rate, which means that three-quarters of patients who take the drugs will have an undetectable viral load six months after treatment completion. Clinicians dub this desired outcome as sustained viral response, abbreviated as SVR. For those who are not able to "eliminate" the virus from their body, managing Hepatitis C is crucial to prevent a worsening of their liver's condition.
People who do not achieve SVR are commonly referred to as treatment non-responders. Although eliminating the virus in everyone is ideal, this perspective is very black and white; individuals who have achieved SVR are successful and non-responders have failed.
Shades of Grey
Practitioners and patients rarely give Hepatitis C treatment outcomes between successes and failures much consideration. However, research led by Chihiro Morishima, MD at the University of Washington in Seattle broadens the spectrum of successful Hepatitis C treatment. This study demonstrates that profound suppression of the Hepatitis C virus reduces events that cause advanced liver disease - even in those who do not achieve SVR.
In this study, treatment non-responders had improvement in their liver health that correlated with the degree of Hepatitis C viral suppression achieved. More specifically, measurements for liver inflammation and liver scarring (as determined by liver enzyme levels and biopsy), improved in those who had viral suppression early in the treatment process - even if some viral particles resurfaced six months after treatment completion. The researchers found this to be true at one and a half and three and a half years following the end of Hepatitis C treatment. Compared to patients who did not have viral suppression early on, individuals with early viral suppression were significantly less likely to experience advanced liver disease - including liver cancer and death - over a six-year period.
This University of Washington finding gives hope to previous non-responders who achieved viral suppression early in their Hepatitis C drug treatment regimen. Thus, we can assume that if the medications suppressed the Hepatitis C virus at some point in treatment, all was not for naught. Achieving SVR is still the benchmark for successful Hepatitis C treatment. However, previous non-responders should know that there appears to be gradations of what renders Hepatitis C treatment beneficial.
Please sign the ATC Salvage Therapy Petition Join us in asking Congressman Alcee Hastings and Congresswomen Maxine Waters to send a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter to Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID, asking for the federal facilitation of apricitabine (ATC). ATC is a phase III nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) that has been shown to be safe and effective in treating people with HIV. It works against viruses that are resistant to several other nukes and could ...
Researchers from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the University of Mississippi Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts Medical School announced today at CROI2013 the discovery of the first infant functionally cured of HIV. The baby, a female now two and a half years old, received 3 HIV medications when brought to the hospital at 30 hours old. Viral load tests were performed during the first few weeks that showed a rapidly decreasing viral load which reached ...
At the 19th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington D.C., the CDC reported that only 1 out of 4 HIV patients in the U.S. have HIV under control, which is defined as complete viral suppression. Warning bells should be ringing in the scientific and HIV advocacy communities. While much progress has been made in the last three decades in the treatment of HIV, tens of thousands of people living with HIV (PLWH) are currently struggling to construct viable treat...
Paige Rawl is 17 and HIV positive, but while her life has been shaped by HIV it isn't ruled by it. When Paige Rawl starts her senior year at Indianapolis’s Herron High School next month, she'll be cheer captain and a member of the student government and prom committee. This summer, the 17-year-old held down a part-time job at Hollister, hawking the popular Southern California-inspired clothing brand. The all-American girl — who happens to be HIV positive. Paige was in...
The HIV community has been abuzz with the August FDA approval of what had been termed “the Quad”, the second one-pill-once-a-day combination antiretroviral drug. Marketed by Gilead under the name Stribild, the drug contains two NRTIs (tenofovir and emtricitabine), an integrase inhibitor (elvitegravir) and an integrase booster (cobicistat) and is approved for use in treatment naïve patients with either drug resistant or wild type virus. In comparison to Atripla, the first...
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for SUSTIVA® (efavirenz), including dosing recommendations for...
California and other states would be pressured to amend or repeal criminal laws that single out HIV-positive people under a bipartisan bill co-authored and introduced this week by Rep. Barbara...
Mission Statement
At HIV Haven we wish to provide our readers with vital cutting edge information to help expand HIV knowledge and promote activism, particularly that which works towards an end to the HIV pandemic. It is our desire to bring to you the scientific, medical and social advances that given the appropriate attention and support, could change the course of the HIV pandemic, lessen the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS, better the quality and quantity of life for people living with HIV and even yield an eventual end to the HIV pandemic. We also provide the basics of HIV transmission and treatment.
We will focus on issues such as innovative drug development, strategic activist campaigns, HIV relationships and novel HIV and HIV cure research. We also will bring you advances in Hepatitis C (HCV), a common HIV co-infection. Whether you are living with HIV/AIDS, HIV and HCV, love someone who is, are an activist, advocate, researcher, physician or just an interested party, we hope here at HIV Haven we can help you find what you are looking for.
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