HEPATITIS C STRIKES AS NEW VIRUS THREAT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 23, 1993                   TAG: 9303230269
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 6   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: DR. DOUGLAS DIETERICH
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
HEPATITIS C STRIKES AS NEW VIRUS THREAT
The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates at least 150,000 people a year are newly infected with Hepatitis C. Yet, the primary means of transmission remains largely unknown.
Hepatitis is a term meaning "inflammation of the liver," and there are three forms of the disease common in this country: hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. They are all caused by viruses, but they are very different diseases.
Hepatitis A virus is found in human feces and is often spread in day care centers where small children are still in diapers. Infected food handlers have also caused outbreaks.
Hepatitis A is usually a mild gastrointestinal virus in children, but adults may be more severely affected. Eventually, the body kills the virus on its own and patients recover. Recent tests of an experimental vaccine against hepatitis A found it was nearly 100 percent effective.
Hepatitis B virus is usually spread by sexual contact or by puncture wounds and it can also be passed along by an infected pregnant mother to her fetus.
More than 300,000 Americans a year are are believed infected by hepatitis B, and up to 2 million people are thought to be chronic carriers of the virus. Ten percent of those who are infected with hepatitis B can develop a debilitating infection that may last for weeks or months.
It also can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. But there is a vaccine against hepatitis B, and it is recommended that all children, and adults in high risk groups, be vaccinated.
Hepatitis C is another hepatitis virus which has recently been tested for in the blood supply. Before 1990, it was termed "non-A, non-B hepatitis" because there was no specific test for it.
Half of hepatitis C cases were transmitted by transfusions prior to the testing of donated blood, and also spread by drug users who share needles.
A number of cases arise in so-called "sporadic" fashion. That is, medical scientists are not sure yet how it's transmitted.
In 60 percent of cases, the disease becomes chronic, which may cause irreversible scarring in the liver, or cirrhosis, which can in turn lead to liver failure.
Until recently, the only treatment was a liver transplant. But the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved a treatment for hepatitis C - the drug alpha interferon, an anti-viral which can actually lower the levels of inflammation in the liver.
The treatment is not 100 percent effective, but it can put some patients into remission.
However, new tests are being developed for hepatitis C to detect the disease in an early, more treatable stage, and all donated blood is now screened for hepatitis B and C.
\ Dr. Douglas Dieterich is a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the New York University Medical Center. He wrote this for the Associated Press.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB