Medical Economics | August 16, 2017
Routine testing for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection-still not part conducted by many providers-is critical to reduce the prevalence and eliminate the disease, according to a new report.
“The disease is symptomatic in most people, even while the virus is doing damage to a person’s liver, so most patients will not have reason to seek treatment. There is an effective, curative drug treatment, direct-acting antivirals, available that is highly tolerated by most, unlike HCV treatments of the past. There is no reason for patients to suffer the health consequences of a prolonged infection anymore,” report co-author Sonia Canzater, JD, MPH, associate at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University told Medical Economics.