HCV / Hepatitis

HCV seroprevalence and antigen positivity were both low, suggesting universal birth cohort screening may not be necessary or cost-effective.

This week, a study advocates enhancing hospital cleaning protocols to halt healthcare-associated infections; integrating HCV testing and antivirals in prisons to cut transmission of the disease; FDA announces listeria outbreak that leads to deaths and hospitalizations across 11 US states; CDC makes advances in foodborne outbreak detection via genome sequencing; and new data about the self-amplifying mRNA vaccine, ARCT-154.

Combating hepatitis C (HCV) transmission through integrated testing and enhanced use of direct-acting antivirals within the prison system can reduce incidence rates.

Sustained virologic response (SVR) and sociodemographic factors were found to be associated with long-term improvements in health-related quality of life in patients with hepatitis C (HCV).

This week, a measles outbreak spans multiple US states and the CDC highlights a rise in syphilis incidents. Fatalities from Group A strep infections have doubled since last year in Canada, and people who inject drugs are at higher risk for hepatitis C and HIV. Investigators are also tracking incident rates over time post-COVID-19 pandemic.

People who inject drugs (PWID) are at a higher risk for hepatitis C and HIV. A new study examined point of care initiatives and how to better support this population with intervention efforts.

This week CDC discusses vaccine recommendations; a provider offers insights on administering live biotherapeutics; and early administration of simnotrelvir plus ritonavir shortened the time to sustained resolution of COVID-19 symptoms.

The CDC stresses the importance of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination, but challenges in treatment accessibility persist.

The XGBoost machine learning model outperformed other AI and logistic regression models for predicting DAA failure, with an AUROC of 1.000 in the training dataset and 0.803 in the validation dataset.

Atea Pharmaceuticals announced topline data from their phase 2 trial showing a higher than expected efficacy for the study.

Changes encompass clarification of recommendations for scheduled vaccinations and the addition of the RSV vaccines for the first time.

This week: Insights into the comparative analysis of COVID and non-COVID pneumonia; how myopathy, with metabolic disturbances and amyloid deposits, is discovered in persons with Long COVID who experience post-exertional malaise; and the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is shown to be effective in children and adolescents.

Patients in the integrated and standard care treatment arms reported similar SCL-10 scores indicative of psychological stress and symptom burden, both at baseline and after the completion of DAA treatment.

The Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) work group has published updated guidelines in the Annals of Internal Medicine for the prevention, diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of HCV in CKD patients.

Response to direct-acting antiviral therapy was similar between patients with and without HBV coinfection, with most patients completing the planned course of treatment and achieving SVR, even in the case of HBV reactivation.

This week's news includes emerging treatment options for patients with persistently positive blood cultures with Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus; how the development of antimicrobial stewardship programs can be an effective strategy for beginning to reduce this critical timing for patients in ICUs; a look at another antibiotic being studied for a healthcare-associated infection; and an investigational vaccine against the Nipah virus begins.

Investigators examined data from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors study 2019 to describe the global, regional, and national burden of liver cancer due to hepatitis C since 1990.

Statistically significant reductions in serum ferritin, transferrin saturation index, and iron levels were observed after treatment, with hyperferritinemia eradicated in nearly all patients treated with DAAs achieving SVR.

The week's news included the differences in public attitudes towards influenza and COVID-19 vaccines, sex-based differences in direct-acting antivirals, a request for an emergency use authorization for a monoclonal antibody for COVID-19 prevention in the immunocompromised, and our final episode of our RSV Roundtable series, which has clinicians weighing in on the importance of counseling patients on the immunizations now and their significance for the future.

New and novel antimicrobials remain at a crossroads as the path to development and economic viability continue to be serious challenges. Our Editor-in-Chief weighs in on this topic and some of the other most significant ones from this past year.

Although no differences were observed in the safety and efficacy of FDA-approved combination DAA therapies, female participants reported numerically more adverse events than male participants.

A study utilizing this technology identified specific predictive factors for developing hepatitis in diabetic patients.

In 2023, there were numerous developments in hepatitis C including the Biden Administration's new budget that put aside several billion dollars towards establishing a hepatitis C (HCV) program; the Cherokee Nation's Hepatitis C elimination program which has worked to increase screening and get people into the continuum of care; and how one clinician is bringing HCV care to the streets through her mobile clinics. Check out these stories and more from this year.

The first self-amplifying mRNA COVID-19 vaccine was approved in Japan; how email reminders fared in encouraging people with diabetes to get their influenza vaccines; in the latest RSV Roundtable, our panel discusses the addition of nirsevimab; and a biotech company is focused on the detection and diagnosis of viral diseases, with a particular interest in Long COVID.

The implementation of clinical and specialty pharmacy services significantly increased the rate of patients transitioning from tenofovir disoproxil fumarate to tenofovir alafenamide.