It's my understanding that Hep C is often a strong factor in the development of cirrhosis and liver cancer.It's also my understanding that even with recent advances the jury is still out regarding claims of "cures".I'm somewhat familiar with this general subject because an ER nurse I once worked with developed both HIV and Hep C after experiencing a needle stick...something that's quite common in critical care medicine.
Walp, yer correct on that point m'FRiend.
I'm sure my other half, who is program manager at a large Infectious Disease clinic specializing in advanced liver disease, will be along directly.
There's a lot of d/misinformation out there on liver disease. d:^)
I am CopperTop's other half, a nurse for nearly 28 years, and program manager of an Advanced Liver Diseases clinic at a very large hospital. I feel pretty qualified to answer your comment.
You are partially correct that Hep C is a strong factor in the development of cirrhosis and liver cancer. But you left out an important word in your sentence, and that word is untreated. In fact, untreated Hep C is the biggest risk factor for liver cancer, and the leading cause of liver transplants in the U.S.....disclaimer being that Hep C is the leading cause of liver transplants because people who are actively drinking are ineligible for a transplant.
Your understanding of the jury being out on "cures" for hepatitis c is incorrect. I'm not sure when your ER nurse friend suffered the needlestick, but prior to late 2013, there were only marginal treatments for Hep C. If it was back then, it is absolutely true that the only available treatments were worse than the disease itself. Interferon is a difficult medicine to take for almost anyone.
In May of 2011, the FDA cleared 2 medications, Boceprevir and Telaprevir, for the treatment of Hepatitis C. They were the primitive beginnings of a totally new way to treat Hepatitis C, a class of meds called DAA's. DAA means "direct-acting antiviral." I say primitive because even since then, medical knowledge of Hep C has increased exponentially. There are actually 7 different types of Hep C (calleld genotypes), and these new meds were only effective against one or two at most. Additionally, only in the last 5-6 years did the understanding of the mechanisms of viral resistance in Hep C become clear, so some of these primitive meds were ineffective because people had resistance patterns in their virus, but no one knew it back then.
Currently, there are some 15 DAA's on the market, and most of the newest ones are effective against all types of Hepatitis C and most types of resistance all in one pill. Look up Zepatier, Epclusa, Vosevi and Mavyret as examples. You still see Harvoni commercials on TV, but in my industry, Harvoni is somewhat old news.....it is only effective against 2 types of Hep C.
Prices of hep C medications were out of control for a long time. What the fine folks at Gilead Sciences forget to mention in their TV ad is that the current non-government market price for Harvoni is $440 per pill. However, for facilities with contracts to purchase large amounts of the Hep C meds, competition as the newer meds have come along has driven prices way down. Unfortunately, in the private sector, prices for the newer meds have not come down much, and Harvoni is still the first option because the price has come down as better medications become available. When Harvoni first came out, it was $1100/pill.
More than 100,000 patients in the U.S. have been cured of Hepatitis C, which is defined by the CDC as the absence of Hepatitis C virus in their blood 3 months after they stop their Hep C meds. In 90% percent of these cured patients, they have follow-up viral loads every year, and over many years have remained free of virus. Having been involved with 7500+ Hep C patients over the last 5 years, I know of exactly 2 who "relapsed" and became Hep C positive after being cured. The reality is in both of these patients, it is a much greater likelihood that they did not relapse, but rather, have a new Hep C infection from another exposure (i.e., went back to sharing needles). My 7500+ are just a drop in the bucket of those who have been treated nationally, and my numbers are consistent with national percentages. Even after being cured, there is no immunity and no way to prevent re-infection. Take-away point is that if you use drugs, don't share your works or use anyone elses.
Alcoholic hepatitis is actually far more deadly than even untreated Hepatitis C. If they don't stop drinking, 30-40 percent of people with severe alcoholic hepatitis will die within 3 months. Even if they stop drinking, the likelihood of confounding medical factors is high: they have likely developed major kidney problems (read on hepato-renal syndrome) as well as being severely malnourished which leads to a host of other problems, too.
The earliest people who have been treated with DAA's, even the primitive ones, have remained Hep C free after 15 years or more. DAA's may have hit the public market in 2011, but they were in clinical trials for 7-10 years before that, and it is these people I refer to.
Sorry for the long dialogue, but I consider it a public health service to make sure accurate information is out there. Hep C IS curable, and is a bad dude to be sure. But alcohol is FAR, FAR worse.