This May, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) updated their HCV screening and treatment recommendations to focus on eradicating HCV among key populations; including pregnant women who previously were not regularly screened, people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men and individuals who are incarcerated. These guidelines provide a much-needed shifted focus in HepC treatment efforts to those who have been affected by the opioid epidemic and barriers to access.
Quoted in the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable (NVHR) press release is our own Dr. Stacey Trooskin, speaking to the importance of these new guidelines in eliminating hepatitis: “We do not lack the public health tools to address this crisis and eliminate hepatitis in our country. Rather, we lack the necessary commitment from government and payers, as a result of policies driven by stigma, not science. Stigma can no longer be a barrier to addressing hepatitis C.”
Read the full press release from NVHR here.
Read the new guidelines here.
