Well At Last … An Article About The Hidden Epidemic
It is good to see that one of the major daily newspapers, The Independent, has given half a page today, albeit on page 6, to the “hidden epidemic” of Hepatitis C.
In an article headed “Hidden Epidemic Of Hepatitis C Threatens To Overwhelm NHS With 500,000 Liver Patients”, the paper states:
More than 500,000 people in the UK may be infected with the virus, a study by doctors at Southampton University has found. Experts said that the government figure of 250,000 cases was a “gross underestimate”, and warned that the NHS was facing a time-bomb of potentially fatal liver disease as a result of ministerial failures to tackle the problem.
Professor Rosenberg, a liver expert from Southampton University, said:
“The problem is that many people look at these risks and don’t think it applies to them. But there is a huge cohort of people who 20 or 30 years ago may have dabbled in drugs, even just once at a party, who could be infected.
“They are judges, businessmen, lawyers. They are the ones who could have had the virus for 20 or 30 years now and could soon start developing end-stage liver disease.”
The article also states:
Out of the estimated 500,000 infections, just 60,000 people have been diagnosed and only 3,000 are receiving treatment.
And ends by saying:
Public health experts are concerned that the stigma surrounding hepatitis C and a widespread assumption that it is a “low-life” disease discourage people from seeking a test.
And these experts recommend a campaign on the scale of the HIV/Aids health warnings in the 1980s to publicise the threat.
Charles Gore, of The Hepatitis C Trust, has not missed an opportunity:
“There is a firestorm that is starting to brew in hepatitis C and nothing is being done about it. The Government promised a big campaign but we have seen very little action. I am extremely disappointed, and very concerned that we are going to be engulfed by an epidemic of liver disease very soon.”
(The article can be read in full at The Independent Online Edition.)
None of the information is new - I referred to the estimates of 500,000 undiagnosed cases when I wrote on 9 December (”It Does make Me Cross”)
about the stigma around HepC. (But it’s good to be able to identify the source of the information as Professor Rosenberg of Southampton.)
I am pleased, however, to see some recognition that HepC is not just an active drug users’ disease - and to see an acknowledgement that it has been stigmatised as a “low-life” disease. I am sure I speak for others when I say, I have had to deal with my own raging anger that I have a chronic disease, and my own fears that it could be life threatening, so I now don’t want to have to deal with stigma and discrimination from society at large! Hepatitis C is no more, nor less, ‘respectable’ than any of the other diseases, such as cancer, which our modern day lifestyle has brought us. And none of us, including active drug users, deserve discrimination or stigma.
Is this a bit of momentum building in the awareness of the media and the public about Hepatitis C at last?
February 23rd, 2005 at 10:03 pm
Yes, Ron, as I said in my email to you a while back, in Italy which is way ahead of us in hepc recognition, it is accepted that the MAIN cause of the spread of hepc was due to poor dental hygeine in the pre 1980`s i.e. before AIDS.
Of course the official line here is that dental hygeine is a way to contract hepc, but only in “foreign coutries”. My wife is Italian and brought this info` back from her last visit to her family.
In fact my wifes mother, who is 80, was already well up on hepc before she was told I had it.
I personally trace my hepc to an abscess on my tooth in 1976. I had to attend an emergency hospital, followed up by 3 visits to my own dentist. It was painful but more to the point there was blood everywhere.
Dentists, prior to AIDS, when they realised they had to get their act together to protect themselves, never wore masks or surgical gloves.
I stand to be corrected on this but I don`t think their assistants who clean the instruments and put that suction thingy in your mouth need any qualifications whatsoever. There`s a lot more I could say but I will leave it at that for the moment.
Paul.
February 23rd, 2005 at 11:46 pm
Hi Ron,
What I’d love to know is where the 90% cure figure comes from.
Thanks to yourself and Paul for the links.
Martin
February 24th, 2005 at 1:00 pm
Hi Ron,
having been reading through your experiences with the medication and I am glad you are doing well and there is now no detectable levels. It must be such a relief to know that the chances of remission/cure are now so high, I am happy for you.
I am on injection 5 now and already have had the ribaviran reduced by half, due to anemia, which I must admit made me a bit depressed as it worries me that the viral load may not be knocked out as efficiently as may have been the case.
However I seem to be suffering from a lot of the side effects you describe and understand what you mean about feeling old. I get so breathless and, in a way, confused, which is much worse when I go into large shops or into town. It’s a strange feeling of not really BEING there, but watching from the sidelines. In fact most of what you describe so well I can identify with. I ended up saying to my partner ‘look, thats what I mean exactly’. One thing I do suffer from is intense pain in my legs thighs arms, sometimes it feels as though my whole body is on fire! Paracetamol does not touch it so I am taking Co-proxamol, which does help. Thankyou for your descriptive writing, it really helps and I shall be keeping up with your blog regularly.
Once again Many Thanks and All the Best,
Christine.
February 25th, 2005 at 4:11 pm
Hi Ron,
Keep your spirits up. Say hello to miracle Carol and tell her you owe her big time (Smile). Just think you have only 32 injections left.
March 17th, 2005 at 7:33 pm
Am happy for you and I wish I will also respond to my treatment when I start. I do not know how I got this virus into my system but I have a hope that I will respond to treatment.
Ron writes: Thanks Diana for your comment - let us know when your treatment is due to start! It seems that getting ready for treatment can be more worrying than being on the combination therapy itself! We all have our fears and worries to contend with before we know what it will actually be like.
I hope to talk with you again. And I wish you every success in your voyage through treatment! All the best
Ron