By Natalie Rahhal For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 18:43 EDT, 14 September 2017 | UPDATED: 22:54 EDT, 14 September 2017

Viral hepatitis is responsible for more premature deaths worldwide than HIV, tuberculosis or malaria.
The virus killed 1.34 million people in 2016 alone - 140,000 more than tuberculosis, 340,000 more than HIV and 621,00 more than malaria.  
Alongside heart disease, road accidents and Alzheimer's disease, viral hepatitis is one of the top ten killers in the world. 
Researchers say that, in spite of advancements that have made both hepatitis B and hepatitis C much more treatable, viral hepatitis is not a high enough political priority internationally.
The study warns that the surge in viral hepatitis cases is driven in part by the opioid epidemic
Viral hepatitis causes inflammation of the liver and related health problems. The most common types are hepatitis A, B and C.
Hepatitis A is the most mild and least common form of the virus. Hepatitis C is the most common form and a highly effective cure was discovered in 2014.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 257 million people were infected with hepatitis B in 2015. Treatments have recently been developed for chronic hepatitis B, which can lead to chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis, liver failure, or liver cancer. 
The new study, published by Global Health Metrics is likely the most comprehensive data set on hepatitis compiled to date. 
'Hepatitis has suffered from lack of prior and neglect,' says Raquel Peck, CEO of the World Hepatitis Alliance, which was one of the study's collaborators.


Read - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4886060/Viral-hepatitis-kills-1-34-million-worldwide.html#ixzz4t46sEqrm 

September 13, 2017    HEALIO HCV NEXT

Opioid agonist therapy clinics represent an important conduit for people who inject drugs to receive information, screening and treatment for hepatitis C. Within these clinics, however, physicians and addiction specialists self-reported low competence regarding current HCV treatments. Additionally, policies that restrict treatment for current and recent drug users present an ongoing barrier.

Alain Litwin
“From a public health perspective, when you treat patients who are actively using, this is the population you need to treat if you want to achieve the WHO goals of elimination by 2030,” Alain H. Litwin, MD, professor of medicine and psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, told Healio.com/Hepatology. “By treating people who are actively using, you can reduce the community viral load. For new patients who are uninfected or those who have been treated successfully, they will be less likely to be infected or reinfected. If you don’t treat the active users, we will never achieve the goal of elimination.”

Litwin discussed the results of the C-SCOPE study, presented this year at the International Symposium on Hepatitis Care in Substance Users. The aim of the study was to evaluate the competency of HCV testing, management and treating among physicians practicing in clinics that offer opioid agonist therapy.
Overall, 203 physicians replied to the C-SCOPE survey from the U.S. (n = 82), Europe (n = 92) and Australia and Canada (n = 29). The physicians included psychiatrists (29%), primary care or internal medicine physicians (26%), addiction medicine specialists (21%), addiction psychiatrists (20%), or other specialist (4%).
Most of the physicians saw testing (82%) and treatment (84%) as important for PWIDs. However, many physicians reported below average competency regarding treating and managing HCV (40%), knowledge of new treatments (37%), advising patients about new treatments (28%), interpretation of HCV test results (14%) and regular screening methods (12%).

“The majority of the physicians treating these patients are either psychiatrists or physicians specializing in addiction medicine,” Martine Drolet, global medical director at Merck, told Healio.com/Hepatology. “They do recognize the importance of screening and treating them, but they need support, they need education when it comes to recognizing treatments for their patients, when it comes to their own knowledge, and when it comes to even treating these patients

TO CONTINUE:  https://www.healio.com/hepatology/hepatitis-c/news/online/%7B8af9d095-39a8-4916-850c-b03f9991c257%7D/addiction-clinics-ne

PUBLIC RELEASE: 6-SEP-2017 ​INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR HEPATITIS C IN SUBSTANCE USERS
    

An international conference bringing together hepatitis C experts from around the world is today calling for strategies to prioritise people who use drugs, saying hepatitis C elimination is impossible without them.
"The number of people around the world dying from hepatitis C is increasing. We have the tools to reverse this trend, to eliminate this disease and save millions of lives. But it will not happen until people who use drugs become a focus of our efforts," said Associate Professor Jason Grebely, President of the International Network of Hepatitis C in Substance Users(INHSU), the convenors of the conference.
Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus that if left untreated can result in cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure. Globally, there is an estimated 71.1 million people with chronic hepatitis C, resulting in over 700 000 deaths each year and the numbers are increasing. Eight per cent of those living with the disease and almost a quarter of new infections are in people who use drugs.
New, highly effective curative treatments have sparked hope of a world free of hepatitis C. Countries like Australia are currently on track to eliminate the disease as a public health concern by 2026 thanks to a public health strategy that offers treatment to all without restriction, and the prioritisation of people who use drugs. However in the US and many countries globally, hepatitis C testing, linkage to care, and treatment for people who use drugs remain low.
Why treat?

• It is essential for elimination. Without treatment for people who use drugs, elimination of hepatitis C will be impossible as the disease prevalence in this group is simply too high.
  
  
  
  
• It can be cost effective compared with delaying until the development of cirrhosis, decompensated liver disease, and liver cancer.
  
  
• It will reduce onward transmission: Studies from Scotland, Australia and Canada indicate that a 3 to 5 fold increase in the number of people who inject drugs on treatment could reduce chronic hepatitis C prevalence by 15-50% within a decade.
  
  
  
  
• It works. Recent evidence shows that new hepatitis C cures are just as effective in people who use drugs as other populations and that reinfections levels are low.
  
  

Experts at the 6th International Symposium on Hepatitis Care in Substance Users say that to be successful, elimination of hepatitis C in people who use drugs requires careful integration with harm prevention programs and linkage to care, as well as a review of policies that drive disease spread.
Research being presented at the conference demonstrates that:

• Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) and Needle and Syringe Programs (NSP) can reduce hepatitis C incidence by up to 80%.
  
  
  
  
• Response to new hepatitis C DAA treatment among people who use drugs is high and reinfection is low.
  Community involvement is key to successful program implementation.
  

"Access to good quality healthcare should be a basic human right for any person, irrespective of whether they use drugs, " said A/Prof. Grebely. "But when providing this also means we are able to eliminate a disease currently affecting 71 million people around the world, then taking action becomes even more of a moral and public health imperative. We cannot afford to delay any longer."

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-09/infh-pwu090517.php

​By JOSH KATZ SEPT. 2, 2017 New York Times
The first governmental account of nationwide drug deaths in 2016 shows overdose deaths growing even faster than previously thought.
Drug overdoses killed roughly 64,000 people in the United States last year, according to the first governmental account of nationwide drug deaths to cover all of 2016. It’s a staggering rise of more than 22 percent over the 52,404 drug deaths recorded the previous year — and even higher than The New York Times’s estimate in June, which was based on earlier preliminary data.
Drug overdoses are expected to remain the leading cause of death for Americans under 50, as synthetic opioids — primarily fentanyl and its analogues — continue to push the death count higher. Drug deaths involving fentanyl more than doubled from 2015 to 2016, accompanied by an upturn in deaths involving cocaine and methamphetamines. Together they add up to an epidemic of drug overdoses that is killing people at a faster rate than the H.I.V. epidemic at its peak.

Drugs involved in U.S. overdose deaths, 2000 to 2016
20002005201020153,280Methadone7,660Meth.10,600Cocaine14,400Prescriptionopioids15,400Heroin20,100Fentanyl andfentanylanalogues5,000 deaths per year5,000 deaths per year10,00010,00015,00015,000

TO  CONTINUE READING:
​https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/02/upshot/fentanyl-drug-overdose-deaths.html?emc=edit_th_20170903&nl

By JOSH KATZ SEPT. 2, 2017
The first governmental account of nationwide drug deaths in 2016 shows overdose deaths growing even faster than previously thought.
Drug overdoses killed roughly 64,000 people in the United States last year, according to the first governmental account of nationwide drug deaths to cover all of 2016. It’s a staggering rise of more than 22 percent over the 52,404 drug deaths recorded the previous year — and even higher than The New York Times’s estimate in June, which was based on earlier preliminary data.
Drug overdoses are expected to remain the leading cause of death for Americans under 50, as synthetic opioids — primarily fentanyl and its analogues — continue to push the death count higher. Drug deaths involving fentanyl more than doubled from 2015 to 2016, accompanied by an upturn in deaths involving cocaine and methamphetamines. Together they add up to an epidemic of drug overdoses that is killing people at a faster rate than the H.I.V. epidemic at its peak.

Drugs involved in U.S. overdose deaths, 2000 to 2016
20002005201020153,280Methadone7,660Meth.10,600Cocaine14,400Prescriptionopioids15,400Heroin20,100Fentanyl andfentanylanalogues5,000 deaths per year5,000 deaths per year10,00010,00015,00015,000

TO  CONTINUE READING:
​https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/02/upshot/fentanyl-drug-overdose-deaths.html?emc=edit_th_20170903&nl