Viral hepatitis screening guideline before biological drug use in rheumatic patients

Viral hepatitis screening guideline before biological drug use in rheumatic patients.

Biological drugs (tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, rituximab, tocilizumab, abatacept, and tofacitinib) are important treatment alternatives in rheumatology, particularly for resistant patients. However, they may cause hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) reactivation; for instance, HBV reactivation may occur in a patient who is an inactive hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) car...

Viral hepatitis in drug addicts.

Viral hepatitis is an important and frequent complication of drug addiction. The discovery of the Australia antigen and its association with serum hepatitis has provided a number of specific serological tests which may be used for the diagnosis of at least a proportion of patients with hepatitis and also for the detection of carriers of the hepatitis virus. These tests might now be used to stud...

Sustained drug use changes following hepatitis C screening

Bruneau, J 1,2 , Zang, G 1 , Abrahamowicz, M 3 , Jutras-Aswad, D 1,4 , Daniel, M 5 , Roy, E 6,7 . 1 Research Center, Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montréal, Québec, Canada. 2 Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada. 3 Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montr...

Safety of disease modifying anti-rheumatic agents in rheumatoid arthritis patients with chronic viral hepatitis.

OBJECTIVE To examine the safety of the use of disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with chronic viral hepatitis (CVH). METHODS Records of 600 Chinese patients satisfying the ARA criteria for RA in two rheumatology centers were reviewed. Patients with CVH were studied. Liver enzymes were checked before (baseline) and during DMARD use at 3-month ...

Let the fog be lifted: screening for hepatitis B virus before biological therapy.