Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Applying Hep C Statistics Into Your Conversations
Because there are so many statistics to remember, often percentages and ratios are confused among the topics to which they belong. A list of the most widely repeated statistics are below
Note of importance: The “Hepatitis C Virus” causes “Hepatitis C” the Disease. The two are as different as HIV causing AIDS. Confusion exists when reading about HCV and Hepatitis C in that the public has come to commingle both the disease and the virus into the one label: “HCV” It is understood when repeating statistics that they normally refer to the Hepatitis C Virus only.
WORLD WIDE STATISTICS
200 million (200,000,000) people are infected with Hepatitis C. “Most” do not know they are infected.
- There is no percentage available defining the word “most”
- Numbers vary from 170 million up to 200 million due to statistical reporting parameters. At this time a universal reporting criteria has not been implemented.
- The incidence of HCV on a global scale is not well known because acute infection is generally asymptomatic (without symptoms).
30 million people are infected with HIV
- 170 million more or 7 times more infections of HCV vs. HIV
1 in every 12 people are infected with either Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C
Unlike Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C is not classified as a STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease)
1 drop of blood infected with HIV may contain 1 to 5 particles of virus. while 1 drop of blood infected with HCV may contain 100,000 particles of virus
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA STATISTICS
5 million people are infected with HCV
- This figure varies downward to 3.2 million people due to the lack of regulated reporting criteria between States as well as some official surveillance reports not including the homeless and imprisoned population awaiting release to the main population
4 times more people are infected with HCV than HIV
- 1 million people are infected with HIV
10% of HCV infected people are not able to define how they became infected
- These 500 Thousand (500,000) people do not know how they became infected. It was not possible to medically assign them to any high risk group.
60 % of HCV infected people do not know they are infected (3 million / 3,000,000)
80% of the time HCV is asymptomatic (without symptoms) until the liver becomes damaged.
60-70% of the time HCV will become acute Hepatitis C
75% of the time Acute Hepatitis will become Chronic Hepatitis C
10% of the time HCV is successfully fought off by the human body, leaving only the antibody created by the body to fight the virus infection.
40-50% percent of the time treatment is successful in reducing HCV to an undetectable state in the body. (Genotype 1 and race specific)
20-30% of the time treatment is successful in reducing HCV to an undetectable state in people of African or Hispanic heritage.
COMMON ABBREVIATIONS, TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
Viral - Of, relating to, or caused by a virus
V/L – Viral Load - The concentration of a virus in the blood
Viral Response – Body’s immune response to a viral infection
RVR – Rapid Viral Response
eRVR – Extended Rapid Viral Response
cRVR – Complete Rapid Viral Response
SVR – Sustained Viral Response = Infection having been lowered to levels not detectable by current testing procedures over a two year period
Questions, Comments and Suggestions are always welcome.
Labels: abbreviations, debbullan, definitions, hcv, hep c, HIV, statistics
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Hepatitis C is Not a STD
From an international study in 1999 through a 10 year study completed in 2004 to CDC statements unchanged since mid 2009 to a NIH supported website copyrighted this year, Hepatitis C is consistently reported not as a STD but as a disease whose transmission via sexual intercourse is not effective through monogamous, non violent means.
It is true that HCV can rarely be transmitted during intercourse as described above however; the virus is not designated by any official scientific entity a “Sexually Transmitted Disease”
Your personal research is always requested. Should you find scientifically supported statements to the contrary, this information would be welcomed. Until that time individuals reporting HCV to be a STD are to be proactively educated and questioned regarding their sources or motives.
1999 –Scientific Study / Australia
“Even long-term spouses seem not to be at increased risk. We therefore suggest that the risk of HCV transmission between monogamous sex partners does not depend on the duration of sexual exposure.”
“Our study finds no convincing evidence for the heterosexual transmission of hepatitis C”
http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/92/9/505?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Lack+of+evidence+for+the+heterosexual+transmission+of+hepatitis+C&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT
PubMed / U.S. National Library of Medicine / National Institutes of Health
“Lack of evidence of sexual transmission of hepatitis C among monogamous couples: results of a 10-year prospective follow-up study.” May 2004
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15128350
CDC – Page last updated: June 9, 2009 – “Hepatitis C FAQs for Health Professionals”
“HCV can also be spread infrequently through sex with an HCV-infected person (an inefficient means of transmission)”
http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/HCV/HCVfaq.htm#section2
NIH via National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (http://www.nichd.nih.gov/womenshealth/research/disorders/stdhiv.cfm) offers information regarding Sexually Transmitted Disease. They provide a link to the National STD Hotline. Following links specifically toward Hepatitis and sexual transmission lands here: http://www.ashastd.org/learn/learn_hepatitisC.cfm Statement from this web page Copyright 1999 / 2010:
“Hepatitis C can be spread by vaginal or anal sex, but this does not occur very often (see "Reduce Your Risk" section below). Factors found to be associated with sexual transmission of HCV are: sex with multiple partners, presence of other STDs, or sex with trauma (for example, rough sex, rape, or sexual abuse).”
End Links
**Special Note of Appreciation to Terrie Lenhart, Director of Debbullan Inc. and Bill Remak, Chairman, National Association of Hepatitis Task Forces for additional links provided.
It is true that HCV can rarely be transmitted during intercourse as described above however; the virus is not designated by any official scientific entity a “Sexually Transmitted Disease”
Your personal research is always requested. Should you find scientifically supported statements to the contrary, this information would be welcomed. Until that time individuals reporting HCV to be a STD are to be proactively educated and questioned regarding their sources or motives.
1999 –Scientific Study / Australia
“Even long-term spouses seem not to be at increased risk. We therefore suggest that the risk of HCV transmission between monogamous sex partners does not depend on the duration of sexual exposure.”
“Our study finds no convincing evidence for the heterosexual transmission of hepatitis C”
http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/92/9/505?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Lack+of+evidence+for+the+heterosexual+transmission+of+hepatitis+C&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT
PubMed / U.S. National Library of Medicine / National Institutes of Health
“Lack of evidence of sexual transmission of hepatitis C among monogamous couples: results of a 10-year prospective follow-up study.” May 2004
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15128350
CDC – Page last updated: June 9, 2009 – “Hepatitis C FAQs for Health Professionals”
“HCV can also be spread infrequently through sex with an HCV-infected person (an inefficient means of transmission)”
http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/HCV/HCVfaq.htm#section2
NIH via National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (http://www.nichd.nih.gov/womenshealth/research/disorders/stdhiv.cfm) offers information regarding Sexually Transmitted Disease. They provide a link to the National STD Hotline. Following links specifically toward Hepatitis and sexual transmission lands here: http://www.ashastd.org/learn/learn_hepatitisC.cfm Statement from this web page Copyright 1999 / 2010:
“Hepatitis C can be spread by vaginal or anal sex, but this does not occur very often (see "Reduce Your Risk" section below). Factors found to be associated with sexual transmission of HCV are: sex with multiple partners, presence of other STDs, or sex with trauma (for example, rough sex, rape, or sexual abuse).”
End Links
**Special Note of Appreciation to Terrie Lenhart, Director of Debbullan Inc. and Bill Remak, Chairman, National Association of Hepatitis Task Forces for additional links provided.
Labels: cdc, debbullan, hcv, nih, std, studies
