CDC Hepatitis Updates: Conversations from CROI, NIH-Led Study to Assess Community-Based Hepatitis C Treatment in D.C.

CDC Hepatitis Updates: Conversations from CROI, NIH-Led Study to Assess Community-Based Hepatitis C Treatment in D.C.

Viral Hepatitis Updates from CDC  

NIH-Led Study to Assess Community-Based Hepatitis C Treatment in Washington, D.C.Officials from the National Institutes of Health and the city of Washington, D.C., launched a clinical trial to examine whether primary care providers can use a new antiviral therapy as effectively as specialist physicians to treat people with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The trial, which will involve 600 adult D.C. residents infected with HCV alone or co-infected with HCV and HIV, also will examine the long-term effects of the treatment.http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2015/Pages/ASCEND.aspx 

  

Conversations from CROI 2015: CDC’s Dr. John Ward on Hepatitis CHepatitis C was in the spotlight at the 2015 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle. Dr. Ronald Valdiserri, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases, spoke with Dr. John Ward, Director of CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis about some of the key findings being discussed as well as some of activities focused on enhancing our nation’s response to viral hepatitis.
https://blog.aids.gov/2015/03/conversations-from-croi-2015-cdcs-dr-john-ward-on-hepatitis-c.html

HCV Antibody Positivity and Predictors Among Previously Undiagnosed Adult Primary Care Outpatients: Cross-Sectional Analysis of a Multisite Retrospective Cohort StudyHepatitis C virus (HCV) testing guidance issued by CDC in 1998 recommends HCV antibody (anti-HCV) testing for persons with specified risk factors. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and predictors of anti-HCV positivity among primary care outpatients and estimate the proportion of unidentified anti-HCV-positive persons using risk-based testing. Electronic medical record data from a 4-site retrospective study were analyzed. In these settings, risk-based testing may have missed 4 of 5 newly enrolled patients who are anti-HCV+. Without knowing their status, unidentified anti-HCV+ persons cannot receive further clinical evaluation or antiviral treatment, and are unlikely to benefit from secondary prevention recommendations to limit disease progression and mortality.http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/01/29/cid.civ002.full