Tag: Hepatitis C | Page 5

The promise that the COVID-19 vaccine brings: A hepatitis C nurse’s perspective

March 23, 2021 • By Bernadette Lettner

Winding through the basement of the hospital, past the spin studio that has been closed for a long time, I follow the snaking line of people. I stand on my designated dot on the floor, a reminder of the physical distancing measures we’ve all grown accustomed to this past year. I go through registration, and then into another line, multiple staff directing me at every turn, ensuring we respect the space and flow in this most circuitous of marathons. I sit down beside a nurse, who goes through the consent form one last time, as she picks up the needle...

Indigenous responses to COVID-19 and hepatitis: A conference report back

January 28, 2021 • By Dr. Alexandra King and Sarah MacDonald

Viral hepatitis impacts Indigenous peoples around the world at much higher than average rates, harming their physical, spiritual, emotional, social and economic health. This is the result of historic and ongoing colonialism, and includes significantly worse health determinants, inadequate access to immunization and treatment, and inadequacies in the provision of culturally safe and responsive healthcare to Indigenous people. COVID-19 has further impacted Indigenous peoples, but many communities and healthcare practitioners are finding innovative ways of responding to the pandemic, while simultaneously trying to continue providing hepatitis care. Many of these responses were shared in a virtual mini-conference hosted by the...

Making OraQuick quicker: The VIRCAN 5-Minute Rule

January 20, 2021 • By David Smookler and Aaron Vanderhoff

Point-of-care (POC) tests for hepatitis C expand testing beyond clinical settings where a blood draw is not readily available. They are an important tool in the effort to eliminate hepatitis C as an endemic disease by 2030. The only Health Canada-approved POC test is the OraQuick hepatitis C antibody test, which requires a 20-minute wait before the results can be read.

CATIE celebrates researchers awarded Nobel prize for hepatitis C discovery

October 9, 2020 • By Shannon Elliot

The hepatitis C community woke up to great excitement on the morning of October 5, 2020. A flurry of tweets, texts and e-mails shared the news that the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine had been jointly awarded to Dr. Michael Houghton (University of Alberta, Canadian Network on Hepatitis C), Dr. Harvey J. Alter (U.S. National Institutes of Health) and Dr. Charles M. Rice (The Rockefeller University) for their roles in the discovery of the hepatitis C virus.

New lab process in B.C. simplifying the hepatitis C care cascade

August 17, 2020 • By Prof. Mel Krajden, Dr. Agatha Jassem and Dr. Sofia Bartlett

British Columbians can now be diagnosed with hepatitis C from a single blood test, saving time and money for both patients and the health care system. This is thanks to a new testing process introduced by the Public Health Laboratory at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), known as hepatitis C (HCV) RNA reflex testing.

Five ideas to improve drug user health in Canada

February 5, 2020 • By Christopher Hoy

Hepatitis C prevention, testing and treatment exists within the larger context of drug user health. This broader approach to hepatitis C must address the intersections of harm reduction, overdose prevention, the social determinants of health, and human rights. How can we better integrate these multiple perspectives to our work? To find out, we sat down to hear ideas from the world’s leading voices in hepatitis C at the 8th International Conference on Hepatitis Care in Substance Users (INHSU 2019) in Montreal.