Working Together to Eliminate the Threat of Hepatitis B and C
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The April session of Grand Rounds “Working Together to Eliminate the Threat of Hepatitis B and C,” was viewed in 5 foreign countries, 47 states, and the District of Columbia.
Viral hepatitis, a group of infectious diseases, affects millions of people worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 325 million people worldwide are living with chronic hepatitis B or chronic hepatitis C. Deaths due to viral hepatitis reached 1.34 million in 2015, comparable to the number of deaths caused by tuberculosis and HIV. Yet, effective measures such as educational programs for people who inject drugs and ensuring infants born to hepatitis B infected mothers are vaccinated against hepatitis B would dramatically reduce hepatitis B and C infections worldwide.
This session of Public Health Grand Rounds discussed how new therapies and technologies can be used to eliminate hepatitis B and C. Learn how multiple approaches and working with health partners can help reach the goals of eliminating these diseases. Find out about the promising work that Australia, the state of New Mexico, and the city of San Francisco are doing.
Dr. Phoebe Thorpe and Dr. Benjamin Cowie discuss who’s at risk for Hepatitis B and C and effective ways to prevent and treat these viral infections. Learn more about the ABCs of Hepatitis and the World Hepatitis Alliance.
Having gone through interferon treatment for hep c my viral count has been within normal range for only the past year. My question is, am I still able to pass this horrible condition on to someone who isn't infected?
For patients who have received treatment, and do not have a detectable viral load, they are no longer infectious and cannot pass the virus on to others. However, people who have been successfully treated and cured, can still become re-infected if they are exposed to another person who is currently infected.
I am almost 71 years old. And at 17 years old, I had toximia during my first pregnancy and my baby came six weeks early because I was hemorraging and baby died and I almost did. I had seven units of blood and this was in 1965. Should I be tested for hepatitis C after all of this time?
Yes. CDC recommendations from 1998 recommend people who have received blood products prior to 1992 should be tested for hepatitis C. CDC also recommends that persons born between 1945-1965 be tested for hepatitis C too.
- John Ward, MD
- Program Director
Viral Hepatitis Elimination, Task Force for Global Health
Senior Scientist, National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
"New Goals to Eliminate Hepatitis B and C"
- Katie Burk, MPH
- Viral Hepatitis Coordinator
San Francisco Department of Health
"Collaborations and Strategies to Eliminate Hepatitis B and C in San Francisco"
- Kimberly Page, PhD, MPH
- Professor and Chief
Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Preventive Medicine
University of New Mexico Health Sciences
"Placing New Mexico on the Path to HCV Elimination"
- Benjamin Cowie, MBBS, PhD, FRACP
- Director
WHO Collaborating Centre for Viral Hepatitis, Doherty Institute
Consultant Physician, Victorian Infectious Diseases Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital
Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne
"Progress towards Hepatitis B and C Elimination in Australia"
- John Iskander, MD, MPH
- Scientific Director
- Phoebe Thorpe, MD, MPH
- Deputy Scientific Director
- Susan Laird, MSN, RN
- Communications Director
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CDC Course Code: PHGR10
CPE UAN: 0387-0000-18-100-H04-P
For more information, see Grand Rounds Continuing Education.
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CDC played a pivotal role in the discovery of the virus that causes hepatitis C. Yet it remains the most common chronic blood-borne infection in the US. Find out how new screening guidelines, testing methods, and therapeutic advances may improve individual outcomes and eventually eliminate these infections.