Addressing The Dual epidemic of hepatitis C and opioid use

By Sara Lorenz Taki and Lipi Roy July 16, 2024

Hepatitis C and opioid use disorder are both chronic but treatable conditions. Yet many Americans living with this deadly combination aren’t offered treatment. Imagine going to your doctor with strep throat and instead of being prescribed an antibiotic you are told it isn’t urgent and you can wait to treat it.
A solution is within reach: It starts with recognizing the power of integrating hepatitis C treatment with addiction care.

People with hepatitis C (HCV) and substance use disorders are often marginalized in traditional medical settings. These individuals are at much higher risk for liver cancer, liver cirrhosis, liver failure, and premature death, as well as diabetes, kidney disease, thyroid disease, and autoimmune disorders. All of which beg the question: In a country with more than 2,000 opioid treatment programs and more than 17,000 addiction treatment centers, why aren’t these health facilities providing broader access to a cure for the nation’s most common blood-borne infection?

As addiction and internal medicine doctors at the Greenwich House Center for Healing, a New York City-based opioid treatment program, we believe that addiction treatment facilities are the perfect delivery system for hepatitis C treatment. Utilizing all types of addiction treatment programs, withdrawal management and stabilization programs, outpatient programs, opioid treatment programs, sober houses, residential programs, harm reduction centers, etc. could be one of many effective interventions in the nation’s effort to eliminate hepatitis C for the nearly 4.7 million people infected with HCV nationwide. Most new hepatitis C infections in the U.S. occur in people who inject drugs, making addiction treatment centers an increasingly important place for people to access hepatitis C treatment.

TO CONTINUE: https://www.statnews.com/2024/07/16/dual-epidemic-hepatitis-c-opioid-overdose-new-role-for-addiction-treatment-centers/