An estimated 250-thousand Canadians have hepatitis C and many of them don’t know it. Those who are infected may suffer no symptoms for years until complications set in, affecting the functioning of the liver. Scarring may be so severe the liver stops working or it may cause cancer, with deadly consequences. People who do suffer symptoms often report fatigue, reduced appetite, sore muscle and joints, nausea and abdominal pain.
Canadians born between1945 and 1975 should be tested, as should new Canadians coming from countries with a high prevalence of the disease, recommends the Canadian Liver Foundation, an organization of doctors and business leaders. Among the foundation’s listed “sponsors and partners” are Gilead and AbbVie, makers of new medication to treat hepatitis C.
Hepatitis C is blood-born
The virus that causes hepatitis C is carried in the blood. Canadians may have picked it up by sharing needles when injecting drugs, particularly in the 60s when casual drug use of injection drugs was more prevalent. In the 1980s, as many as 30,000 Canadians were infected through tainted blood products.
In poorer countries, many people caught hepatitis C through the medical procedures when needles were re-used without having been thoroughly disinfected first. A simple blood test can show if a person carries the virus.
Risk-based testing not good enough, says doctor
Now, the Canadian government requires doctors to recommend the test based on whether they think there is a risk the patient has the disease, but that does not satisfy Dr. Morris Sherman, a specialist who now chairs the Canadian Liver Foundation.
“The problem with that is that risks are not always identified. The patient may not tell the doctor the risk, the doctor may not recognize the risk. And we know that generally, risk-based testing misses a large proportion of whatever it is you’re testing for. And that’s why sort of a more universal recommendation has come out from the (United) States and, in Canada, the Canadian Liver Foundation.”
ListenThere is no such official recommendation from the Canadian government, but a task force is looking at the testing issue and is expected to make a decision next year.
Effective, expensive treatment available
For those who test positive for hepatitis C, there is now an effective, if expensive treatment for the disease. However, provinces which have publicly-funded drug plans will often only pay for the oral medication in cases where the disease is advanced. Drugs to treat hepatitis C are becoming some of the best-selling in the world.
July 28 is designated by the United Nations as World Hepatitis Day. It estimates that 130-150 people around the world have hepatitis C. The most affected regions are Africa and Central and East Asia.
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