Findings reveal shortfalls in hepatitis C elimination efforts in the United States and Mexico
UC San Diego Today July 30,2024

An international team of researchers from University of California San Diego and el Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Mexico have revealed a significant association between the use of illicit fentanyl and the transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) among people who inject drugs in San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico. The findings, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, suggest that illicit fentanyl use could be driving recent increases in HCV incidence.
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Our study provides the first evidence that illicit fentanyl use is linked to an increased risk of acquiring hepatitis C infection, which disproportionately affects people who inject drugs," said Steffanie Strathdee, Ph.D., senior author and professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine. "This underscores the importance of making point-of-care HCV viral load testing more widely available in the U.S., so those needing treatment can access it immediately."

HCV is one of several types of hepatitis, inflammation of the liver most often caused by a viral infection. HCV is most often transmitted through blood, which means that people who inject drugs are at particularly high risk of acquiring the disease.

Once acquired, the virus is easy to transmit unknowingly, because symptoms of HCV often don’t emerge until months or years after the initial infection. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), about half of people with HCV do not know they have it.
HCV prevalence is also on the rise in recent years; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of reported cases of acute hepatitis C has doubled since 2014 and, during 2021, increased by 5 percent from 2020.
The new study, which followed a cohort of 398 people who inject drugs over two years, found that illicit fentanyl use was associated with a 64 percent increased risk of acquiring HCV.
TO CONTINUE READING:​https://today.ucsd.edu/story/illicit-fentanyl-use-linked-to-increased-risk-of-hepatitis-c-among-people-who-use-drugs

Published July 18, 2024 | Originally published on MedicalXpress Breaking News-and-Events

A new study has identified the top reasons why some physicians may be reluctant to intervene in addiction. The comprehensive review, pulling 283 studies published on this topic within the last 61 years, showed that "institutional environment" was the reason most frequently reported in these studies.
"Institutional environment" refers to factors like lack of support from a physician's institution or employer; insufficient resources, such as staff and training; challenges in organizational culture; and competing demands. This reason was cited in 81% of the studies reviewed, followed by insufficient skill (74%), lack of cognitive capacity to manage a certain level of care (74%), and inadequate knowledge (72%).
Around 66% of studies cited negative social influences—or beliefs about public and community acceptance of addiction care—while 56% of studies cited fear of harming the patient-physician relationship as deterrents for physicians to intervene in addiction.
These may represent the manifestation of stigma associated with substance use disorder, the authors say. Reimbursement concerns for the cost of delivering addiction interventions were also observed.
The study's findings point to the need for institution-wide changes to improve the adoption of evidence-based substance use disorder treatment practices among physicians. These changes include increasing organizational support, leadership and staff buy-in, and education and training.
The study, titled "Physician Reluctance to Intervene in Addiction: A Systematic Review" and published in JAMA Network Open, was led by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health.
"People with substance use disorders must be able to access compassionate and evidence-based care at any touchpoint they have with a health care provider," said Nora D. Volkow, M.D., Director of NIDA.

​TO CONTINUE: https://www.mdlinx.com/news/doctors-reluctant-to-treat-addiction-most-commonly-report-lack-of-institutional-support-as-barrier/3lEMhZeaywZL8F0cVcQGgJ

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/

New York aims for a 90% reduction in people living with HCV and an 80% increase in people being treated and cured by 2030.
July 8, 2024 • By Laura Schmidt  hep

​New York state is ramping up efforts to eliminate hepatitis C by 2030 by increasing screening, treatment and more, according to Spectrum News.

Hepatitis C (HCV) is a contagious but curable disease caused by a virus that infects the liver. HCV is a blood-borne virus that can cause lifelong infection, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, liver cancer, liver failure and death.

About 2.4 million Americans are living with HCV, and nearly 2.2 million people could be living with hepatitis B, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

By 2030, New York aims for a 90% reduction in people living with HCV and an 80% increase in people being treated and cured.

Knowing your HCV status is the first step toward treatment and a cure. While current guidelines recommend that all adults should be tested for HCV at least once, New York state recently implemented a new testing law requiring universal screening for all adults over 18 and pregnant individuals.
TO CONTINUE: ​https://www.hepmag.com/article/new-york-implements-strategies-reach-hep-c-elimination-goal

Published July 9, 2024 | Originally published on ScienceAlert Latest, MD Linx

More needs to be done to ensure that tattoo inks and other permanent makeup products are bacteria-free, according to the authors of a new study that found worryingly high numbers of commercial samples with bacteria in them.
Testing found bacteria in about 35 percent of the tattoo inks and permanent makeup sampled in the US. That includes both aerobic bacteria that need oxygen to live, and anaerobic bacteria that don't – meaning they could survive in the dermal layer under the surface of the skin, even without an air supply.
The research was carried out by a team from the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) and the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), both part of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
"Our findings reveal that unopened and sealed tattoo inks can harbor anaerobic bacteria, known to thrive in low-oxygen environments like the dermal layer of the skin, alongside aerobic bacteria," says microbiologist Seong-Jae Kim from the NCTR.
"This suggests that contaminated tattoo inks could be a source of infection from both types of bacteria."
TO CONTINUE READING: https://www.mdlinx.com/news/more-than-1-in-3-tattoo-inks-tested-in-us-harbor-a-potential-infection-risk/3nGayeDOHeweYh8zpV1ujk?show_order=8&utm_ca
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