Dear Colleagues,
Our article on hepatitis C is published this week.
We describe a population of injecting drug users taking methadone and buprenorphine treatment (n=237) with a HCV seroprevalence of 75%. A third of seropositive people had risk factors for disease progression and were targeted for referral for possible treatment. There were 27 who attended a liver clinic during the 3 year study period, of whom 14 started treatment with pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin, most with very gratifying results. [At latest count 24 patients have been treated]
Hallinan R, Byrne A, Agho K, Dore GJ. Referral for chronic hepatitis C treatment from a drug dependency treatment setting, D&A Dependence 2007 88;1:49-53
abstract: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2006.09.018
