hepatitis news and views from SA
Author James MorrisonPosted on Categories UncategorisedLeave a comment on Keep Calm and Carry Naloxone Most accidental overdoses in Australia—especially South Australia—are from prescription drugs, mainly painkillers and sleeping tablets. Many of these deaths can be prevented with a drug that reverses the effects of opioids.
From 1 December 2019 to February 2021, South Australia is taking part in a PBS-subsidised pilot program to reduce opioid-related deaths by making the life-saving medicine, naloxone, available to more people.
Continue reading “Keep Calm and Carry Naloxone”Author James MorrisonPosted on Categories UncategorisedLeave a comment on “I’ll have hep C treatment eventually.” Opioid substitution treatment (OST) clinics are considered ideal locations for providing treatment for people with chronic hepatitis C virus infection who inject drugs, a vital priority group for achieving the goal of HCV elimination. But despite the availability of highly effective treatments with relatively few side effects, treatment uptake is yet to reach the level needed to achieve elimination.
Continue reading ““I’ll have hep C treatment eventually.””South Australia’s Viral Hepatitis Nurses are clinical practice consultants who work with patients in the community, general practice or hospital setting. They provide a link between public hospital specialist services and general practice, and give specialised support to general practitioners (GPs) to assist in the management of patients with hepatitis B or hepatitis C.
Author Cecilia LimPosted on Categories UncategorisedLeave a comment on Hepatitis B Screening for People Receiving Cancer Therapy An Australian expert panel of medical specialists have recommended that all people receiving immunosuppression cancer therapy be screened for hepatitis B.
If you have ever been infected by hepatitis B, cancer treatment which suppresses your immune system can allow the virus to reactivate – even if your body had dealt with it successfully before. Reactivation can lead to liver failure, death or sub-optimal cancer treatment.
Continue reading “Hepatitis B Screening for People Receiving Cancer Therapy”
Author Cecilia LimPosted on Categories UncategorisedLeave a comment on Hepatitis B – the neglected epidemic Close to 234,000 Australians live with chronic hepatitis B—one of the leading causes of liver cancer—and almost four out of ten don’t know they have the condition. It is even more alarming in South Australia, where six out of ten are not diagnosed1.
Hepatitis B diagnosis rate in Australia remains stagnant at around 63 per cent from 2015 to 2017, and our treatment rate of 8.3 per cent falls far short of the recommended 20 per cent of people with chronic hepatitis B estimated to need treatment. In this respect too, South Australia lags with a treatment uptake of only 5.7 per cent—and only 16 per cent of those with chronic hepatitis B being monitored, well below the national average of 20.2 per cent2.
Author James MorrisonPosted on Categories Uncategorised6 Comments on Why are a small group of people born immune to hepatitis C? Virologist Connor Bamford and Professor John McLauchlan, both of the University of Glasgow, explain to the Hepatitis SA Community News how their research shows that not all people are equally vulnerable to hepatitis C.
The hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects around 1per cent of the human population and is a devastating pathogen. In most people, it silently infects the liver for decades, and can cause life-threatening inflammation, scarring and even cancer. How the virus achieves this feat has long puzzled scientists.
Continue reading “Why are a small group of people born immune to hepatitis C?”
