http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/

Posted: March 17th, 2009 under Hepatitis.
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An unlicensed tattoo artist is being hunted by police after fears have been raised that he may have infected teenagers with HIV and hepatitis.

The man tattooed up to a dozen young people at a late night party in Llanelli, Dyfed in the U.K.

A Health Service spokesman said: “Anyone who has received a tattoo at the party should see their GP and will be offered screening for blood-borne viruses.”

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

HIV infection feared spread by black market tatoo artist.

Posted: September 22nd, 2008 under Diseases, HIV, Hepatitis.
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Preventing white blood cells from circulating by trapping them in the lymph nodes can help mice overcome a chronic viral infection, researchers at Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Emory Vaccine Center are reporting.

Published in the journal Nature, the findings suggest a new strategy for combating chronic viral infections that could apply to the treatment of human diseases such as hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS.

The team’s discoveries emerged from their study of two varieties of a virus that causes meningitis in mice, says senior author John Altman, PhD, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Yerkes Research Center and Emory University School of Medicine.

The lead author of the paper was postdoctoral fellow Mary Premenko-Lanier, PhD, with contributions from Sarah Pruett, PhD, assistant director of the Biomarkers Core Lab at Yerkes Research Center and graduate students Nelson Moseley and Pablo Romagnoli.

Black laboratory mice fight off infection of strain of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), but are vulnerable to chronic infection by a variant called clone 13, the researchers indicated.

Altman and his colleagues found that infecting mice with the Armstrong strain sequesters white blood cells in the lymph nodes, while clone 13 does so less effectively.

“Our hypothesis was that if we could artificially induce conditions like those produced by the Armstrong strain, it would help the immune system clear an infection by clone 13,” says Altman.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Biotech scientists using white blood cells in new ways.

Posted: August 14th, 2008 under Developing Diseases, HIV, Hepatitis, Impaired Immunity.
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A bill to fund an investigation into a hepatitis C epidemic in Las Vegas is being delayed in the U.S. Congress. A total of $26 million had been set aside as part of an earmark in a war funding bill, but that plan has now been scrapped. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the money for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would have gone toward genetic mapping of unexplained hepatitis cases in the valley.

But, Sen. Reid says he has earmarked funding in a separate federal bill that could be approved later this year.

The Southern Nevada Health District says it has redirected funds from grants and other sources toward the probe.

At least eight acute hepatitis C cases have been linked to alleged unsafe practices at the now-closed Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, and another 50 thousand patients have been urged to get tested for hepatitis and HIV. Infection Protection reported on the unsafe infection control practices earlier this year.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, MA, Editorial Director

Posted: June 30th, 2008 under Diseases, Hepatitis.
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More than £43 million — approximately $100 million — is being budgeted to treat hepatitis C in Scotland during the next three years, according to the Scottish health authorities..

Public health minister Shona Robison launched “phase two” of the hepatitis C action plan during a visit to Dundee’s Ninewells hospital. Most of the money will be provided to NHS health boards, local treatment facilities.

Speaking on World Hepatitis Day, Robinson indicated there is still a lot of ignorance about hepatitis C and part of the aim is to “raise awareness about those at risk of infection.”

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director, and Nancy Bruening, Associate Managing Editor

Hepatitis c — a dreaded liver disease.

Posted: May 19th, 2008 under Diseases, Hepatitis.
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Monsoon rains have now arrived in Burma, and thousands of homeless people are sleeping in the open on sodden ground 11 days after deadly Cyclone Nargis landed. Rice spoils in the damp air, and health officials are predicting “massive death and illness” from related epidemics.

The aid shipments that have arrived are backed up at Rangoon’s main airport, but officials fear a lack of warehouse space will expose them to the rain. Supplies of water, purification tablets, and equipment are stalled in neighboring countries, pending approval from the ruling military regime.

“I can’t think of a worse scenario for the development of water-borne infections than the one in Burma,” says Dr. William Bowie, an infectious disease expert. “Malnourished folk already have compromised immune systems.”

The weather is increasing the health threats.

“Where I am now there’s over 10,000 homeless people and it’s pouring rain,” Bridget Gardener, an International Red Cross official told reporters this week in the disaster zone of the Irrawaddy delta.

Two American relief flights arrived yesterday, following the landing of an Australian Air Force plane brimming with emergency supplies.

But Oxfam spokesperson Alexander Woollcombe says “air drops can only be partial and give the illusion that the situation is addressed.”

Experts say the risk of infection increases daily. Starving people are eating contaminated food and drink brackish water from streams awash with decomposing bodies of humans.

Cholera, malaria, and typhoid are among the leading likely diseases, as are hepatitis A and leptospirosis, a deadly bacterial disease.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director, and Nancy Bruening, Associate Managing Editor

Spoiled rice may kill thousands more in Burma.

Posted: May 14th, 2008 under Developing Diseases, Diseases, Hepatitis, Malaria.
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Patients who have been infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) have an “increased risk” of developing non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL), according to a report in the International Journal of Cancer.

Earlier studies demonstrated the association between HCV infection and the risk of NHL in Southern European populations, but not in Northern European or North American populations, the authors say.

Researchers, including Dr. Claudia Schollkopf from Stats Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, probed HCV infection and the risks of NHL overall, specific NHL subtypes, and Hodgkins lymphoma in a large population-based study of Danish and Swedish patients.

Scientists say HCV infection is associated with an increase in the overall risk of NHL, and with a significant, 2.4-fold increase in the risk of B-cell lymphomas, as well as a 5.2-fold increased risk of lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma.

There was no association between HCV infection and mantle cell lymphoma, marginal zone lymphoma, T-cell lymphoma, or Hodgkins lymphoma, the researchers found.

“We observed some evidence for a role of HCV in the etiology of lymphoma,” the investigators say. “However, the magnitude of association was modest.”

Further studies are needed to focus on the biological mechanisms of HCV-related lymphomagenesis and contributing host and viral factors, according to the scientists.

– by the Editors

Risk of cancer increases with hepatitis C infection.

Posted: May 7th, 2008 under Diseases, Hepatitis.
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New data about the effect of the Hepatitis B drug Baraclude, entecavir, is encouraging to many in medicine. After five years of treatment with the drug, the incidence of patients developing viral mutations that create resistance to Baraclude was just 1.2% — an exceptionally low figure at a time when many diseases are becoming increasingly resistant to drug therapy.

Baraclude was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March 2005.  According to the Hepatitis B Foundation, 400 million people worldwide, including 12 million Americans, are infected by the Hepatitis B, and 1 million die each year from the virus, or its complications. There is a well-established vaccine available to fend off Hepatitis B, but the treatment is not effective for those who already suffer from the disease. That’s where the drug Baraclude comes in, a therapy that is free from microbial resistance.

In a recent report in the Hepatitis B Advocate blog, it was noted that the HB virus often accompanies Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and that means both diseases must be treated at the same time. Additional medication must be used to treat HIV positive patients.

Does Baraclude have any side effects that will negatively impact HIV patients? None have been reported thus far.

Sonia Choi, a spokeswoman for Bristol-Myers Squib, tells Infection Protection the Baraclude package insert states that the drug has not been tested on patients co-infected with HIV and HBV when the HIV is not being treated.

The insert reads, “Limited clinical experience suggests there is a potential for the development of resistance to HIV nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors if Baraclude is used to treat chronic Hepatitis B virus infection in patients with HIV infection that is not being treated.”                        

A further concern is that some HIV drugs are toxic to the liver. It is most important than any patient testing positive for hepatitis B be immediately tested for HIV.

Like HIV, HBV is transmitted through infected body fluids, commonly spread by sexual contact, or, in the case of drug addicted individuals, sharing infected needles. When contracted, the virus migrates to the liver where it continues to do damage if not treated. Decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma can develop causing serious health problems, and even resulting in death, doctors tell Infection Protection.

– by Dr. Herb Marlow, PhD, National Correspondent

The chemical composition of Baraclude. Image Courtesy of Bristol-Myers Squib.

Posted: May 5th, 2008 under Diseases, HIV, Hepatitis.
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A study published in the International Journal of Cancer indicates there is a link between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and an increased risk of extrahepatic bile duct cancer.

The extrahepatic bile duct collects bile from the liver, and parnters with another duct coming from the gallbladder to form the common bile duct. That duct carries bile to the small intestine. Cancers of the extrahepatic bile duct very difficult to treat.

In a population-based study conducted in Shanghai, Dr. Ann W. Hsing, of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, and colleagues examined the prevalence of HBV and hepatitis C infection in 417 patients with biliary tract cancers, 517 with biliary stones, and 762 randomly selected healthy comparison subjects.

Among the population controls:

* HBV infection was detected in 7.3 percent.
* Patients with extrahepatic bile duct cancer were more likely to test positive for HBV, 14.2 percent.
* This resulted in a 2.4-fold increased risk of extrahepatic bile duct cancer.

The researchers also found a low prevalence of HCV infection in this population, 2 percent, which limited the ability to estimate the association between this infection and biliary disease.

HBV induces liver cancer primarily by causing chronic inflammation and tissue destruction with regeneration of liver cells. A related process may be involved in bile duct cancers, researchers say.

– by the Editors

Proper infection protection practices may help prevent liver cancer.

Posted: April 18th, 2008 under Diseases, Hepatitis.
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Hepatitis and the flu are completely different diseases — but for the patient, at least initially, the symptoms are similar.  The influenza bug is caused by viruses that attack one’s lungs and respiratory system, whereas hepatitis is disease that attacks the liver. 

Some forms of hepatitis get better on their own, but others can inflict serious liver damage, and may even leave the patient needing a new liver, according to the April issue of the NIH’s News in Health newsletter.

A number of different viruses—hepatitis A, B, C, D and E —cause hepatitis.  Scientists believe others might cause the disease too.  These viruses attack the liver and keep it from working properly.  This can make one feel tired and sick to their stomach.  One could get a fever, lose their appetite or have stomach pain, diarrhea, dark yellow urine or light-colored stools.  A patient may even develop yellowish eyes and skin.

The hepatitis viruses can cause acute, or short-term, hepatitis, and some can also cause chronic hepatitis, in which the infection lasts a long time, sometimes for a patient’s whole life.  Chronic infection can eventually lead to scarring of the liver tissue, liver failure and liver cancer.

A person can’t live without a functioning liver.  The liver clears poisons from your blood and helps control infections, and also makes proteins involved in blood clotting and the bile that helps one absorb fats and vitamins.  While the liver can heal itself to some extent, repeated or extensive damage can overpower it, doctors say.

– by Gene J. Koprowski, Editorial Director

Tips for Preventing Hepatitis

* Wash hands after going to the bathroom and before fixing food.

* Avoid tap water when traveling to certain countries or regions.

* Don’t share personal items—such as toothbrushes, razors and nail clippers—with an infected person.

Source: National Institutes of Health

Posted: April 8th, 2008 under Diseases, Hepatitis.
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