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Journal of Gastrointestinal & Digestive System | ISSN: 2161-069X | Volume: 8
&
&
October 29-30, 2018 | San Francisco, USA
International Conference on
Gastrointestinal Cancer and Therapeutics
4
th
World Congress on
Digestive & Metabolic Diseases
26
th
Annual Congress on
Cancer Science and Targeted Therapies
Hepatitis C eradication: A promise unfulfilled
David H Van Thiel
Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
H
epatitis non-A, non-B (Hepatitis C) was recognized as a unique form of Viral Hepatitis in the late 1970s. It took 2 decades for
its full clinical characteristics, biochemical manifestations as well as its chronicity to be fully defined. Not until the introduction
of interferon therapy in 1998-9 was any efficiency achieved. The development of direct-acting antiviral agents utilized to inhibit
viral replication therapeutic efficacy increased most recently to 95-100%. The success led to the projection that hepatitis c could be
eliminated by 2020 with a reduction in cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma thru 2030. Unfortunately, multiple obstacles prevent
this favourable outcome and consist of the following: a lack of knowledge by physicians that the disease is a serious and importantly
that it is treatable; the failure to identify asymptomatic patients and those with non-hepatic manifestations of the disease; the cost
of drug therapy is prohibitive for individuals with no insurance and contributes to third-party payers withholding therapy except
for those with advanced disease; the failure to identify and treat individuals in the following groups: men having sex with men,
incarcerated individuals, those that utilize drugs and participate in needle exchange and opioid replacement programs, those that
are co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C; C; co-infected with hepatitis B and C; and those in long-term institutions for the mentally
disabled and psychiatric patients.
dvanthiel@dr.comJ Gastrointest Dig Syst 2018, Volume 8
DOI: 10.4172/2161-069X-C8-086