Candidate hepatitis C vaccine trials and people who inject drugs: Challenges and opportunities

to new hepatitis C therapies for people who inject drugs

Hepatitis C virus vaccines among people who inject drugs.

Most people who inject drugs (PWID) are infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), and PWID have the highest risk of HCV infection of any risk group. The incidence of HCV infection is 5%-25% per year, demonstrating continued need for HCV infection prevention in PWID. Existing data in chimpanzees and PWID suggest that protective immunity against persistent HCV infection is achievable. Due to the hig...

HIV and hepatitis B and C co-infection among people who inject drugs in Zanzibar

BACKGROUND People who inject drugs are at high risk of acquiring hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) due to risky injection and sexual practices. The objective of this study is to investigate the epidemiology of HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C, and co-infection of these viruses among people who inject drugs in Zanzibar, Tanzania. METHODS We used resp...

Barriers to receiving hepatitis C treatment for people who inject drugs: Myths and evidence

BACKGROUND Alcohol consumption, current injecting drug use, and pre-existing mental illness have been identified as 3 of the main reasons for excluding patients from treatment for hepatitis C. OBJECTIVES We reviewed the literature to obtain an evidence base for these common exclusion criteria. MATERIALS AND METHODS We reviewed original research and meta-analyses investigating the effects of...

A quasi-markov model for transmission and disease elimination: Hepatitis C among people who inject drugs

Background: The use of mathematic modeling to better understand the spread of Hepatitis C and the impact of interventions can be invaluable for localities, states and countries with a large burden of injection drug use. New York State (NYS) is estimated to be home to a large number of people who inject drugs (PWID), however the burden of hepatitis C among this population and the impact of inter...