Researchers explore ways to prevent hepatitis C infection.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a method in which antiviral drugs are given to people before they are infected with an illness, already works to help prevent HIV infection. Now, some hepatitis C virus (HCV) researchers want to apply that same medical concept to help stop liver disease in its tracks, according to a recent editorial published in Hepatology.
The report, written by Gregory Dore, PhD, of The Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales in Australia, argues that ongoing high-risk behavior—such as unsafe sex among HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) and injection drug use—makes certain people so likely to get hepatitis C in their lives and so likely to be reinfected with the illness, that it’s better to try to prevent an infection instead.
The article goes on to use mathematical modeling to create a “pessimistic scenario” in which up to 20 percent of HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) engage in high-risk sexual behaviors. If this were to happen, Dore argues, treating all new cases of hep C every year among this at-risk group still would not help stop the spread of the virus.
Read Full Article: Hepatitis C Researchers Eye Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis – POZ
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Read Full Article: Hepatitis C Researchers Eye Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis – POZ |
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