Hepatitis C New Zealand

April Hepatitis C New Zealand Blog

How many People are treated for Hepatitis C in New Zealand ?

Someone asked me how many people in New Zealand get treated each year for Hepatitis C in  New Zealand.   I  hadn’t thought about that for a while and it would be nice to think New Zealand are treating more people now that three years ago but apparently not. New Zealand has treated around 400 people per year for Hepatitis C  each year for the last three years. There has been no increase in the numbers treated .

Scotland Hepatitis C

In Scotland a country of comparable size to New Zealand’s the Scottish government have set a goal of treating 2000  extra Hepatitis C patients per year.

New Zealand needs this kind of evidence based national goal to increase the numbers of people being treated.

Scotland Progress to date includes:

* Increasing the number of people treated for hepatitis C. NHS boards will treat around 800 new patients for Hep C in 2009-2010, compared with around 400 in 2007-08

* Significant infrastructure and service development for Hepatitis C treatment, care and support to increase treatment numbers further

* A Hepatitis C Managed Care Network (MCN) within each board area, made up of relevant specialists

* A learning and development lead at each health board to co-ordinate training for professionals who deal with people who have, or may have, the virus

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2010/03/08094128

I found it interesting that

“Although most people contract hepatitis C through injecting drug use, 8 in 10 people currently infected are not currently injecting drugs.”

Scottish Public Health Minister Shona Robison

Do Needle-Exchange Programs Really Work?

A review of the evidence on the effectiveness of harm reduction interventions involving the provision of sterile injecting equipment in the prevention of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission among injecting drug users (IDUs). The interventions assessed were needle and syringe programmes (NSP), alternative modes of needle/syringe provision (pharmacies, vending machines and outreach) and the provision of injecting equipment other than needles/syringes.

http://www.thebody.com/content/news/art55845.html

“The main public health implications of the findings are that a higher level of coverage of interventions, including [NSPs], is likely required to reduce blood-borne virus transmission,” said Palmateer.

http://www.thebody.com/content/news/art55845.html

More evidence is emerging of the role  your genes play in the success of treatment for Hepatitis C

Duke University has been at the fore front of this research

Genetic variation in IL28B predicts hepatitis C treatment-induced viral clearance

It is well known that many patients will not be cured by treatment, and that patients of European ancestry have a significantly higher probability of being cured than patients of African ancestry. In addition to limited efficacy, treatment is often poorly tolerated because of side effects that prevent some patients from completing therapy. For these reasons, identification of the determinants of response to treatment is a high priority.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7262/full/nature08309.html

Dr. Andri Rauch discusses his manuscript Genetic Variation in IL28B Is Associated With Chronic Hepatitis C and Treatment Failure: A Genome-wide Association Study.

A Facebook  page for Hepatitis C New Zealand Peer Support Project

We  www.hcv.org.nz  “a community of people with Hepatitis C trying to help other people who are affected by Hepatitis C.” have a face book page now you can  check it out here.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hepatitis-C-New-Zealand/99254558387

Best of Health www.hcv.org.nz