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<p>Researchers have identified two cellular proteins that are important factors in hepatitis C virus infection, a finding that may result in the approval of new and less toxic treatments for the disease, which can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis. An estimated 270 to 300 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C and the conventional treatments -- interferon and ribavirin -- can have significant side effects. A new drug targeting cellular proteins rather than viral proteins would be a valuable addition to the treatment arsenal, said Samuel French, an assistant professor of pathology and senior author of the study.</p>

LAS VEGAS — Amid the alphabet soup of hepatitis virus types, the one that should most concern physicians these days is hepatitis C. “This is going to be the big virus in the next 20 years in the U.S.,” Dr. Marsha H. Kay predicted at a meeting sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics. In fact, at a recent national forum on chronic viral hepatitis, several experts emphasized the need for a new, coordinated national response to screen and treat hepatitis C viral infections in the United States because too many infected patients live unaware of their disease and go...

Researchers have come up with a completely new way to thwart hepatitis C: Go after the host, not the virus. Genetically silencing a small piece of RNA in chimpanzees effectively suppresses the hepatitis C virus (HCV), a new study shows--and the virus appears unable to become resistant to the treatment. But experts caution that the approach needs to be scrutinized carefully for side effects. New drugs against HCV are badly needed. More than 170 million people worldwide have contracted the virus, which is transmitted primarily via injection drug use and through the transfusion of blood and blood products. The virus...

Services were moved to the parking lot of a Rainier Beach church after a naked man smashed through a window Saturday, spattering HIV-positive blood inside and leaving a trail of destruction through the house of worship. Officials believe the 46-year-old suspect was high on PCP during his unholy rampage through the Unity Church of God in Christ - and now the church interior is considered a bio-hazard because of the tainted blood inside.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Virginia hospital has asked more than 300 former patients to come in for blood tests because a nurse suspected of infecting patients with hepatitis in Texas worked there last year. Retired Army Capt. Jon Dale Jones, 45, was arrested this month in Miami on federal charges of assaulting three patients and possession of a controlled substance by fraud. Federal prosecutors said they believe Jones spread hepatitis in 2004 at an El Paso military hospital by diverting fentanyl -- a powerful painkiller often used for anesthesia -- from patients to himself. At least 15 military service...

It is a health crisis of alarming proportions. Up to nine million Egyptians have been exposed to hepatitis C, and tens of thousands will die each year unless they receive a liver transplant. Health authorities are taking steps to stop the spread of the blood-borne virus, but must also contend with higher liver failure mortality rates as the disease advances in those infected decades ago. "The prevalence of hepatitis C is not growing, but the impact of an outbreak in the 1960s and 70s is appearing now as a clinical outcome," says Dr. Mostafa Kamal Mohamed, professor of community medicine...

Stephen Balsamo felt like his body was on an assembly line. He and his fellow recruits lined up back-to-belly at the Fort Dix clinic that day in 1973 and, as they filed by, the men were given a half-dozen shots in each arm with a device called a jet gun injector. The 54-year-old Boonton man thought little of it at the time. The gantlet was just another thing to endure at the start of a three-year hitch in the Army. But Balsamo is now convinced that was the day the Army exposed him to tainted blood and infected him with...

Over the years, I have thought about getting a tattoo. Surprising considering my fear of needles! lol I see them everywhere on every classs of person, I see the artwork vary from onr body to another.What causes someone to decide to have a tattoo. Is it cultural? Is it a fad? I am seriously thinking about it now. Any stories, suggestions? Thank you!

Summer of love: 40 years later Hippie Hippie Shakedown: But where was love? BY DAWN EDEN, Guest Columnist LA Daily News WHEN it comes to inappropriate names, "Summer of Love" has to be right up there with "Joy Division," the name the Nazis reportedly gave to the sections of concentration camps that housed the guards' sex slaves. For one thing, it was not just a summer event. The countercultural happening that swept through San Francisco and beyond began with an April1967 planning announcement by concert promoter Chet Helms, aka Family Dog, creating the "Council for the Summer of Love." It...

The most dangerous thing coming out of prison these days may be something most convicts don't even know they have: hepatitis C. Eventually, when they are released, medical experts predict they will be a crushing burden on the health care system, perhaps killing as many people as AIDS in years to come. At the same time, they will be carriers, spreading the disease. Hepatitis C can be treated, but many prisons do not test for it. Among the reasons: Budgets are tight, and treatment is expensive. So prison officials close their eyes to the gathering emergency and pass it along...

Steven Tyler has apparently been living on the edge more than he previously let on. In an interview with Access Hollywood set to air Tuesday night, Aerosmith's sinewy singer reveals that he has quietly been battling hepatitis C, a blood-borne infection that can potentially lead to fatal liver damage, including cirrhosis or liver cancer. Per the New York Daily News, the 58-year-old Tyler tells host Nancy O'Dell that he was diagnosed three years ago but had contracted hepatitis C several years earlier without manifesting any symptoms. He subsequently endured a year's worth of pills and injections containing the antiviral drug...

Celera Genomics plans to announce today that it has developed a genetic test it says can help predict which patients with hepatitis C will eventually suffer liver scarring and so are in most need of treatment. The test, which looks at variations in seven genes, represents another step toward personalized medicine, in which treatments are tailored to patients. Various companies are selling or developing such tests, for purposes that include detecting cancer early, monitoring heart transplants and choosing which drugs may work best to treat cancer, AIDS and heart disease. In the case of hepatitis C, therapy is expensive and...

Why it's OK if it cures patients The pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough is excluding African-American patients from the Phase II trial of its new Hepatitis C (HCV) anti-viral drug. Activist groups are denouncing this exclusion as racist. For its part, Schering-Plough argues that it has valid scientific grounds for limiting the research at this stage to other racial groups. Company researchers point out that for unknown reasons, black people do not respond as well to HCV treatments as do members of other racial groups. One prominent activist, Judith Dillard, told the Newark Star-Ledger, "The bottom line is that African-Americans have been...

TORONTO, February 14, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Homosexual activists have long sought to distance themselves from pedophiles, however Canada's most prominent homosexual activist group has now demanded the lowering the age of consent for anal sex to 16 from 18.  Surprisingly, Canada's National Post, regarded by some as a 'conservative' paper has come out in favour of the proposal.Reacting to the Conservative Government's plan to raise the age of consent for normal sex from 14 to 16, EGALE (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) has commenced a campaign to have the age of consent for anal sex lowered to 16 from 18. ...

Dr. Roger Perrault The trial of the doctor at the centre of the tainted blood scandal is set to begin Monday after months of legal wrangling and delays. Dr. Roger Perrault, former national medical director of the Canadian Red Cross, faces criminal charges for his alleged role in allowing hemophilia patients to receive tainted blood products in the 1980s and early 1990s. The incident is widely considered to be Canada's worst medical disaster of the last century. More than 1,000 Canadians were infected with HIV and as many as 20,000 contracted hepatitis C after receiving the blood. It's not...

Chelsea In Taradise Is Tara Reid the latest thong-flasher to threaten the Clinton political machine? We hear Sen. Hillary Clinton has been in crisis mode ever since she learned her daughter, Chelsea, has been spending time with the nip-slipping party girl. Clubland sources say the Clinton’s Stanford-and-Oxford-educated spawn first met Reid in Europe over the summer while the American Pie actress was filming her short-lived E! show, Taradise. After Chelsea broke up with her longtime boyfriend Ian Klaus, she and Reid became inseparable, we’re told. “It’s almost like Chelsea dumped Ian for Tara,” laughs one New York scenester. “All of...

FORMER US President Bill Clinton may be forced to appear in court over a medical scandal which claimed the lives of innocent Scots. Many haemophiliacs were infected with hepatitis C after tainted blood from American prisoners was imported into the UK. Glasgow firm Thomsons are representing the families of Scots sufferers who died after contracting the disease. They allege inmates in an Arkansas jail were paid to donate blood despite the authorities knowing they had AIDS and hepatitis. They are threatening to call the ex-president, who was state governor at the time, to the witness stand. The infected bloodwasused to...

Tainted-blood victim still feels left out By NICK GARDINER Staff Writer SMITHS FALLS -- Still on the outside looking in. That's how Tina Lyon feels even as the Canadian Red Cross awaits formal sentencing Thursday for distributing tainted blood that left her with hepatitis C after a blood transfusion in 1985. The Red Cross was fined $5,000 after pleading guilty in Hamilton court May 30 to violating the Food and Drug Regulation Act. The agency also agreed to set up a $1.5-million scholarship fund that Lyon hoped could help pay for her son John's second year at Carleton University starting...

HAMILTON (CP) - Tens of thousands of Canadians infected with AIDS or hepatitis C got an apology from the Canadian Red Cross on Monday after the charity pleaded guilty to distributing tainted blood in exchange for dropped criminal charges. "The Canadian Red Cross Society is deeply sorry for the injury and death caused to those who were infected . . . and for the suffering caused to families and loved ones of those who were harmed," Dr. Pierre Duplessis, the organization's secretary general, told the Ontario Superior Court in a video-taped apology as tearful victims looked on. "We accept responsibility...

Just learned that my elder brother has Hepatitis C. He does not do drugs, nor did he have a blood transfusion. The best he can figure is that he got it as a result of dental work. Right now, he's feeling very fatigued. His wife's brother (brother-in-law) also has Hepatitis C (advanced stages) and is given only 5 years to live. This is very unsettling to my brother. ANY advice, any one can give would be appreciated. Self help groups ... books to read ... personal experiences ... prayers ... thanks