Hepatitis C is the most common chronic bloodborne infection in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several new studies and reports released so far in 2015 highlight the all-too-common disease.
The following are seven stories and studies on hepatitis C covered by Becker's Hospital Review since January, starting with the most recent.
1. Medicaid spending on hepatitis C treatments escalated drastically last year: Through three quarters of 2014, state Medicaid programs spent $1.33 billion on hepatitis C treatment — almost as much as the states spent in the previous three years combined.
2. A medical practice in Santa Barbara, Calif., closed down earlier this month after patients there were potentially exposed to hepatitis C and other bloodborne illnesses, like HIV and hepatitis B. Local, state and federal agencies were investigating the incident.
3. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that patients who are HIV positive and receive a kidney transplant experience superior outcomes when compared to kidney transplant patients who have hepatitis C.
4. The National Institutes of Health launched a clinical trial in March to analyze if primary care providers can use an antiviral therapy to treat people with hepatitis C as effectively as specialist physicians can.
5. In March, the CDC highlighted two healthcare-associated transmissions of hepatitis C that happened in the U.S. during routine surgeries as case studies to reinforce that small amounts of the virus are necessary to cause a hepatitis C infection and that tight infection control practices are needed.
6. Research published in Clinical Infectious Diseases showed that about 80 percent of patients who have hepatitis C may have been missed through EMR-reliant risk-based testing.
7. Some agencies, including the CDC, have pushed for mass hepatitis C screenings, including screening everyone born between 1945 and 1965 for the virus. However, research published in the British Medical Journal found that practice may be unjustifiable and unlikely to save lives.