HEPATITIS C VIRUS ACTION NOW

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goddess101 — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 01:51:36 Z

HCV Action Now

Here we combine our notes, thoughts, stories, and information resources into a plan of action. Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Email feedback@hcvaction.org.

Want to learn more about HCV? Please read the Background Information and Personal Stories. Also visit Spectacular Policy for related information.

Worried you might have it? Get Tested!

Things You Can Do

HCV Action Now has thus far raised $938.00. Thank you!

HCV stands for the Hepatitis C Virus. This is the most common bloodborne virus in the world, chronically infecting about 3% of the population in the United States and also worldwide. Amazingly, even though it is often fatal, it receives almost no money or attention. The US government spends very little money on research for new treatments for HCV.

The current lack of attention and treatment for HCV is a disgrace in more ways than one. It is a moral disgrace because we’re aquiescing in millions of people having a greatly reduced span and quality of life, many of them never even properly diagnosed. It is an economical disgrace because the consequential loss of productivity makes not only victims but all of us less well off than we need to be. It is a distressing case of market failure that the enlightened self-interest of big pharma hasn’t addressed this widespread problem yet. And, finally, it is a scientific disgrace that almost all medical researchers choose to spend their time on diseases affecting far smaller groups in usually far less severe ways. A relatively small shift in budget and attention could remedy all this¹.

Why so little attention? Maybe it’s because the disease remains undiagnosed for decades in most people, until symptoms finally appear in the form of severe liver damage. 95% of those infected with HCV don’t even know it. But diagnosing the infection is critically important — simple lifestyle changes (especially the avoidance of alcohol) can make a huge difference in the quality and length of life for HCV+ persons.

Generally it takes about twenty years from the date of infection for an HCV+ person to begin showing the symptoms of severe liver damage. Twenty years ago it was 1985, the year when injection drug use really started to take off in the United States. HCV is a blood-borne illness, and needle-sharing between IV drug users is one of the most common transmission mechanisms. So it is highly likely that a whole generation of people who used IV drugs (whether it was once, twice, or a hundred times) as well as their children (since HCV can be transmitted from a mother to her unborn child) are about to discover that their livers have come due.

Another at-risk group is people who have received blood transfusions any time before 1992. Prior to that year there were no screening procedures in place to help keep HCV out of the pool of donated blood, so transfusion recipients from that era may also have become infected. And their livers will soon be “due” as well. Such a large up-and-coming population of liver transplant candidates could place an unbearable strain on the organ donation system, and many will likely die before finding a match. It is far better to treat them now before transplants are needed.

Why so little for research, and so much more for other diseases? Maybe it’s to protect the value of the current medicine, which is still covered by patents (preventing the creation of more affordable generic versions). Things have recently improved; HCV research now gets roughly ten times the funding it got in 1996, but this is still less than one tenth of the money spent per death on AIDS research. $100 million per year is grossly insufficient. Have a look at the current Research News.

Why is now the time to increase funding tenfold? One simple reason, as reported in Nature Medicine, 12 June, 2005: Production of infectious hepatitis C virus in tissue culture from a cloned viral genome. Please see the details of this breakthrough research. And see Dr. Charles Rice’s great advance This development means that we can now cheaply and effectively utilitize far more resources in parallel to solve the problem fast.

Former United States Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop is an advocate for HCV research and awareness, calling HCV the “Silent Epidemic”. Visit the website of the Koop Institute at epidemic.org

I need your help contributing to this website.
Please email your comment or story or other addition directly to Rudi Cilibrasi at cilibrar@gmail.com and mention if it is usable on this website.

John Sullivan Sr

goddess101 — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 23:52:54 Z

JOHN E. SULLIVAN SR.

My husband was diagnosed with Hep-C 10 years ago. He had a liver transplant in 1997. He now has end stage renal disease. His kidneys have failed due to cyclosporine over the years. He is ongoing treatment for a kidney transplant. Currently we have been tested and I am a match (so far).

We asked Univ. of Penn. to give him a liver clearance on his transplanted liver. They have denied our request because they claim he is nearing a mild stage of cirrhosis. Yet and still the clinic will not need to follow up with him for almost another year. We are working with University of Pittsburgh/Thomas E. Starzl. He was referred to a hepatologist in Pittsburgh who now is determining whether or not he will need to treat the Hep-C with Interferon/Ribovivrin.

Before his Liver transplant they tried Interferon and he became terminally ill after 6 weeks of treatment. I do not want him to go through that again. We have been reassured that treatment has changed allot since then.

But why should he suffer and live on a life machine if his liver is still pumping strong?

He drives, he loves to fish, he just started playing drums after 8 years of feeling as though he may never play again, the only time he is not feeling his best is when he has had dialysis?

I believe my husband deserves to stay alive as well as many others. I have been with my husband for 11 years and I have been quiet for sometime now. But, today we are struggling financially and so much more. We need this kidney transplant so he will play his music and live for another many years as God would see fit.

My husband has put many years of service in with Philadelphia school district driving bus; he is retired from the State of Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. After his Liver Transplant, he pursued his dream of driving for Greyhound Bus Lines, 3 years later his legs gave out and he was diagnosed with kidney failure. He no longer is able to work. So therefore, that has put me out there to work and strive for our family, 2 little girls.

Hep-C will be there for many years to come, 10 years of our lives already. If there is a true cure, than why wait so long? If not, why wait so long to find a cure?

I am one voice of trillions of more people. I love my husband, many others do to. Please help us find a cure, and help us raise funds for the continuous treatment of his Liver transplant and up coming Kidney Transplant. We must meet a goal of $15,000. To cover upcoming medical expenses, commutes to Pittsburgh, loss of work during my living donation to my husband, prescription co-payments, insurance deductibles, living arrangements during and after transplant in Pittsburgh area, temporary relocation costs. We are currently working on many kinds of fundraiser events. Any ideas to help will be a true blessing.

For donations, make checks payable to:
NTAF Mid-Atlantic Kidney Transplant Fund

In memo Section:
In Honor of John E. Sullivan

Send to:
NTAF
3475 West Chester Pike, Suite 230
Newton Square, Pa. 19073

Iris, Irisshipp@aol.com

Distribute this story

Personal Stories

goddess101 — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 12:43:58 Z

Personal Stories

Miles Keaton Andrew

Rudi Cilibrasi (website originator, scientist)

Gavin Kistner

John Sullivan Sr

C. L. Villani

Anne C. Hanna

Jeff Pruitt

Distribute flyers

goddess101 — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 21:22:33 Z

Print and Go!

Spread awareness by distributing our informational flyers. Print them out and make copies. Or email the pdf to your associates. Any effort will make a difference.

Flyer #1 – Rudi’s Story

Flyer #2 – Action Now

Flyer #3 – John’s Story

Flyer #4 – Get Tested

Letter, 66.9 KB

Research News

kaihsu — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 09:31:54 Z

Hepatitis C Virus Action Now

Research News

New Targets for Anti-HCV Therapy
by Liz Highleyman

HIV and HCV are very closely related

There are binding sites common to the RNA polymerase used in both reverse transcriptase systems, suggesting a wide array of possible cheap drugs that can be used to combat both HIV nad HCV at once:

The crystal structure of Hepatitis C virus RNA polymerase complexed with
nucleotides and metal ions

Crystal structure of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of hepatitis C virus.

New Drugs Just Around the Corner

R278474 looks promising for HIV and possibly HCV.
TMC-125 is another possibility perhaps.
DAPY (diarylpyrimidine) compounds attack the reverse-transcriptase system which is similar between HIV and HCV.
HepeX-C looks good
and VX-497/Merimepodib

Currently active HCV researchers

Dr. D. J. Rowlands is doing great work

Scientific review articles

Girish Mahadeorao Bhopale and Rabindra Kumar Nanda (2005)
Emerging drugs for chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology Research. (in press)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hepres.2005.05.005

Jean-Michel Pawlotsky (2004) Pathophysiology of hepatitis C
virus infection and related liver disease. Trends in
Microbiology 12(2):96-102.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2003.12.005

François Penin, Jean Dubuisson, Felix A. Rey, Darius
Moradpour, and Jean-Michel Pawlotsky (2004) Structural
Biology of Hepatitis C Virus. Hepatology 39:519.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hep.20032

kaihsu

kaihsu — Sun, 24 Jul 2005 19:17:59 Z

Kaihsu Tai

Several well-known public figures

cilibrar — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 17:37:27 Z

Pamela Anderson and Naomi Judd are just a couple of celebrities who have announced they are HCV+ and have begun taking steps to increase awareness.

Pamela and Naomi, we salute your courage!

Check out this list of other well-known people

David Marks, a Beach Boy, is really stepping up the pace this year

Rudi Cilibrasi

cilibrar — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 06:52:25 Z

Good day. My name is Rudi Cilibrasi. You may email me at cilibrar@gmail.com

I am a lifelong computer programmer and open source author. I have contributed to the Linux kernel. I have also worked at Microsoft. (See my open letter to Bill Gates about HCV.) You can see some of the software I am now writing at

http://complearn.org/

which allows you to do advanced data-mining for free.

I am writing this now to address what I consider to be a very serious matter. It is relevant to the moral basis upon which Intellectual Property is founded. As a scientist and programmer, I am a very technical person and tend to get very involved in my own health decisions. It happens that I was born prematurely in 1974, and received a blood transfusion from my mother who was infected with HCV. For those that are not aware, this causes a lifelong degenerative liver disease. Both of my parents have already died young due to its effects, and I am HCV+ as well and have been slowly suffering liver degeneration my entire life as a result.

This concerns IP because some years ago I did some research online about my possible treatment options. In the year 2000 the possibilities were “old, normal” interferon or pegylated interferon, taken in both cases in combination with ribavirin. These are chemotherapeutic type drugs, with very harsh side effects, and you must take them for a year in order to have a decent chance of curing yourself of HCV+. The problem is, with my genotype, 1b, the chances of success using the old medicine were only about 30%. The new medicine had about a 60% chance. But the FDA did not approve the new medicine until years after Europe did, for reasons which are not entirely clear, given the solid research findings in its favor. So I flew to Europe, got the new pegylated medicines for about twenty-five thousand dollars of my own carefully saved money, and flew back to USA.

I spent about 3 months treating myself with this medicine that was not yet approved in USA and then checked my viral counts to find great news: I had lowered my viral count to undetectable levels, suggesting that if I just continued with the yearlong course of treatment, I would probably be permanently cured. What great news!

Imagine my dismay, then, when I received a note from the customs office saying they had blocked shipment of the second half of my pegylated interferon + ribavirin. The reason, apparently, was that there was a patent or IP law problem restricting the European branch of the pharmaceutical industry from selling these drugs to Americans, even if I bought them in Europe with my own money for personal use. I figured it would not be a big deal — I would just explain to the customs officers that this was a life-threatening illness, and they would help me find some way to appeal the block before it was too late.

The big problem is that if you skip your medicine for more than a week or two before the full year, you may as well stop entirely because the virus will almost certainly come back in full force.

So, having explained this to the customs official over the phone, I was shocked to find that it seemed there were no provisions in place to handle the case where an IP restriction is in direct conflict with human life. My life.

Its now several years later. My parents have since died and my liver has gotten worse. I would enjoy being around to continue to contribute for free (because I love programming) and would enjoy talking more with all of you about many things. But this will not be possible unless we reframe the IP debate in terms of human-centric goals. It should not be the case that a creative scientist with a lifelong history of giving away his technological creations for free would be denied the resources he needs to satisfy one of the simplest and most basic human needs — to have his illness treated in the most effective way possible — because of a mere Intellectual Property dispute. It should not be the case that the FDA is allowed to prevent life-saving medicine that is not abusable from being used in the USA. This is a travesty and must be corrected. Because of a rule that contains no exceptions for the protection of life and health, I lost tens of thousands of dollars and have that much less useful time left to earn. Because of this travesty, I am still HCV+.

Want to help? Please sign this petition

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/703119152

to Bill Gates. (It’s not the best-written petition, but for the moment it’s the only one we HCV+ people have got.) You can also help spread awareness by distributing this story:

http://wiki.hcvaction.org/hcvact/published/Distribute+flyers

This whole disaster also begs the question of how should we handle the more general issue of conflicts between intellectual property and basic human rights. More information will be posted on this subject soon.

——————————
Sign the petition

Distribute Rudi’s story and other flyers

Rudi Cilibrasi’s Research Website

AsiaQuake.org philanthropic website by Cruz and Cilibrasi

politicians

cilibrar — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:42:01 Z

For shame!

An HIV/HCV drug is blocked by patent law , despite scientific approval and despite the needs of the many Americans dying every day from these diseases.

Mr. Bush, how is it that you have more than $400 billion for war, but less than $1 billion for HCV? Fewer than 4000 people died at the World Trade Center. More than 5 million Americans suffer HCV, and we would need more than four World Trade Center attacks every year to equal the annual deaths from HCV.

Can it be that one hundred thousand poor Americans are worth less than one rich person in your “value” system? There are other ways to fund medicine that wind up saving many more lives, such as this bill, HR 417 and with summary here

For shame!

You cannot imprison us all. You cannot wait for us to die. You are being stopped, starting now. We demand representation.

Don’t pity dat foo’ Bush

Have a try at this educational and fun game , starring Hulk Hogan, He-Man, Mr. T, and R2-D2.

Some theory

John Galbraith has said, People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage.

I am not sure if this view is cynical or realistic.

Here’s something regarding Chiron

And it seems Brazil is still leading the curve for the rest of the world. Congratulations on your vision! More recently, it seems Thailand is now following suit

Many scientists have understood for some time that publicly-funded research should be open for all to use and in the case of life-saving research the case is all the more clear every day. The NIH is suffering a credibility collapse and it is suicidal for Americans to continue to ignore these conflict-of-interest situations at every level.

Background Information

cilibrar — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 15:00:17 Z

What is HCV?

HCV, the Hepatitis C Virus, is an infectious RNA virus which primarily affects the liver. HCV is spread through blood and is extremely communicable by this route — more infectious than HIV — even through indirect exposures like sharing razor blades and toothbrushes. There is no immunization for Hepatitis C. In about 80% of cases, the disease progresses from acute HCV to chronic HCV, meaning that the disease will never go away naturally, but will instead remains in the body, slowly destroying the liver.

The Silent Epidemic

HCV is the most common blood-borne illness in the United States, affecting about 2% of the population. However, because HCV is asymptomatic for decades, as many as 95% of people infected with HCV are undiagnosed. Increasing awareness is critical, because early treatment makes a huge difference in health outcome. Without testing, many people never know they are HCV+ until the virus has caused severe and irreparable liver damage.

Dr. C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon-General of the United States, calls Hepatitis C the “Silent Epidemic”.

“We call hepatitis C the “silent epidemic” because so many Americans have the disease (over 4.5 million), so few know they have it (only 225,000 or 5%), and such a small portion (40,000 or 1%) have had treatment for it.

“Unlike many other viral diseases, hepatitis C, if detected and treated, can often be cured. I want to stress that there are very few viral diseases about which this can be said – certainly not about AIDS. Treatment with alpha interferon over a period of 12 to 18 months will reduce the viral count or “load” below detectable levels for 25 percent of the treated population, and will improve liver functioning for another 25 percent who still have evidence of the virus.

“We stand at a critical point with hepatitis C. We have very sensitive and reliable screening available – and will soon have these in forms suitable for mass screening. We have a hope of curing the disease for some and improving liver functioning for others, and this hope grows every day with new research and new treatments. We have a consensus in the medical community on management of the disease. We are still within the window of opportunity where we can head off serious liver disease for a large portion of the infected population. If we do not act, we will see a tragic increase in liver disease, in the demand for liver transplants, and in the death rate from hepatitis C related liver failure.”

Read Dr. Koop’s full message here .

HCV Is Underfunded

For the 2005 budget, the National Institutes of Health are spending $25-$30 per HCV and HBV patient, in contrast to $3084 per HIV/AIDS patient. This isn’t proportional to mortality rates, either — $10,833 is spent for every HCV death (a total of $118 million), in contrast to $178,975 per AIDS death¹.

The FAIR Foundation has something to say about this in this open letter.

HCV has Medical and Societal Costs which far excede the amount currently spent towards research.

HCV Mortality Statistics

HCV has a long latency period (20 – 30 years) before symptoms become apparent in infected individuals. In addition, most individuals infected with HCV have not been diagnosed. Estimates based on death certificates² find that the number of deaths attributed to HCV in the United States according is 10,000 – 12,000, but this is probably an underestimate. HCV and HCV-caused liver damage severely stress the body and can contribute to many aspects of mortality which are not included in the official HCV death count.

A recent study³ found that individuals infected with HCV were twice as likely to die in a 30 year period than uninfected individuals. If we estimate from Dr. Koop’s data that 1.6% of the US population is currently infected with HCV, this would suggest that that 0.8% of all deaths are partially or entirely caused by HCV — around 20,000 deaths per year.

These numbers compare to around 15,000 yearly deaths caused by HIV/AIDS, which receives two orders of magnitude more funding and immeasurably more research and attention.

Treatment of HCV

Individuals infected with HCV must do everything they can to avoid stressing their liver and hastening the progression of the disease. This means they must avoid alcohol and any other drugs which are processed by the liver. For someone living with undiagnosed HCV every beer drunk with friends and every glass of wine over dinner silently but surely steals a little more time they don’t even know they’re losing.

At this point in time, the most common (and most effective) treatment for HCV is a combination of pegylated interferon and ribavirin with a 6 to 12 month treatment regime⁴.

About half of patients who undergo combination treatment have a “sustained virologic response” (SVR)—this means that no virus is detectible in their system 6 to 12 months after treatment has ended (and presumably permanently!). Success depends on which genotype of HCV the patient has⁴ (40% for type 1, 80% for types 2 & 3). SVR is more likely for younger patients, individuals with less liver damage, and those with lower viral counts. Even in patients who relapse after treatment, some improvement of liver health often occurs.

The side-effects of this treatment are very unpleasant and potentially dangerous. They include fatigue, flulike symptoms, muscle aches, gastrointestinal upset, diabetes, vision loss, rashes, anemia, low white blood cell counts, kidney damage, agitation, and depression. Procrit (EPO) is often used to mitigate the ribavirin-induced anemia, while Neupogen can help with low white blood cell counts. Insulin-sensitizing drugs may also be prescribed if diabetes develops. And antidepressants are commonly added to try to counter the negative psychological effects of the drugs.

HCV in the News

On May 12, 2005 the president and CEO of the American Liver Foundation, Frederick Thompson, testified before the House Appropriations Committee . Near the end of his statement were the following words:

“Finally, Mr. Chairman, CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis has the important responsibility for the prevention and control of hepatitis C virus (HCV), which impacts at least 4 million Americans and is the most common blood-borne disease in the United States. The CDC published the National Hepatitis C Prevention Strategy in 2001, and we urge an increase of $5 million to assist CDC in implementing this plan, particularly to expand the capabilities of state health departments. We also urge that CDC focus on education and awareness programs targeted at specific populations where there is a high prevalence of hepatitis B.”

Several well-known public figures are known to currently suffer or to have suffered from HCV.

Here’s a prison nightmare going on now from HCV. Here’s the view from sunny California and here is something about Australian prisons

——————————————————————————

Additional Information

Wikipedia article on Hepatitis C

CDC Hepatitis C FAQ

The Koop Institute website, epidemic.org

The Hepatitis C Outreach Project, hcop.org

——————————————————————————

¹ The Case for More Hepatitis B & Hepatitis C Research Funding: http://www.fairfoundation.org/news_letter/2004/hepatitis_magazine.htm

² National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement: Management of Hepatitis C (2002): http://consensus.nih.gov/cons/116/116cdc_intro.htm

³ B J Veldt and others. Modelling the Natural Course of Chronic Hepatitis C: Validation and Clinical Implications. Abstract 615. 40th EASL. April 13-17, 2005. Paris, France. http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/2005icr/easl/docs/042005_hcvc.html

⁴ Diagnosis, Treatment, & Management of Hepatitis C: http://www.aasld.org/eweb/docs/hepatitisc.pdf

Jeff Pruitt

goddess101 — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 23:34:23 Z

My son was diagnosed 6 years ago with HCV. From the amount of damage he already had they(Mayo Clinic) said he had probably been 6 or 7 years old when he contracted it. At that time we lived in the Phillipine Islands as a military family. We were informed that he would be elgible for a transpant when he got further along. 3 years ago he was checked at Baylor and told he had not progressed any more since his diagnosis. We lived our lives as if time was plentiful. Thinking they knew what they were talking about.

On Sat. May 7th he called me and told me he was sick and ask if I would take him to the doctor. His wife was helping their 16 year old daughter get ready for Prom that night and Jeff did not want to take her away from Mand’y big night. Of course, I rushed right up and took him to NWAR Physcians Clinic. They got him right in. He was diagnosed with Pneumonia and they called his internal medicene doctor. He came right to their clinic, wrote orders and told me to take him to the hospital, go directly to admissions and get him to his room ASAP. He told me we were just dealing with pneumonia. In 4 hours he had gone from 2% oxygen to 100%, from a room to PCU to ICU and by morning we were told only a miracle could save him. He was in kidney and liver failure and at 2AM on May 10th he breathed his last breath.

Am I angry? You bet I am. Am I hurt, only to the point that I cry every day along with his wife. Why can we spend millions of dollars on research for AIDS, cancer and other deadly killers, but never hear the word HCV mentioned? Did I realize it was going to take my sons life? Never. A transplant was the answer. No one bothered to tell us that he would die so fast. What can I do to help. I don’t have alot of money. Where do I go to scream out that something needs to be done. Why do so many people with clout, such as Hollywood stars fight so hard to earn money for so many needy projects but not HCV. Tell me who, what, how and I’ll work myself to death to try get something started. I never want another mother to watch her son take his last breath as I did my son. I am here, ready, willing and able to do what I can.

Pat Pruitt

delusional

cilibrar — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 20:59:42 Z

I wonder why.

Perhaps it’s an undigested bit of beef?

Guestbook

cilibrar — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 20:59:14 Z

Guestbook

Anna Lissa Cruz – partner and co-conspirator

Madeleine Price – random person in Boston

Anne C. Hanna – random Illinoisian

PUSH THE EDIT LINK

BELOW THIS AREA

mad

goddess101 — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 15:37:00 Z

Madeleine Price

http://printf.net/~mad/ meprice@fas.harvard.edu

Anne C. Hanna

goddess101 — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 11:22:04 Z

An acquaintance of mine discovered last year that he had HCV. He’s a recovering drug addict—bright and started off well in life, but everything he had kind of went down the tubes when he got into drugs. His life had been a lot more together lately, though. He did rehab and had been clean for quite a while. He even was holding down a job fairly well. Not an awesome job, just Walmart retail. But it was a job.

Then he found out he had HCV, probably acquired during those years when he was taking IV drugs. Fortunately he’s got health insurance, thanks to Walmart, so he could afford treatment. And, even more fortunately, it seems to have worked for him, and he was able to clear the virus and finish the treatment. So hopefully he’s cured.

But the six months of treatment were awful for him. Interferon is nasty stuff. For someone who already had emotional problems, the depression and fatigue associated with interferon treatment made it extremely difficult for him to do much of anything, including going to work, and he came very close to losing the job that was his only source of health insurance. Without that health insurance he could never have paid for the treatment and his cure would not have succeeded.

And even having gone through all of that, he was still one of the lucky ones. For many, all that treatment doesn’t do a damn bit of good, just messes them up and doesn’t get rid of the HCV. We need less nasty and more effective treatments, and we need them soon, because there’s an awful lot of people who are about to discover they have HCV, just like my friend did.

HEPATITIS C VIRUS ACTION NOW

Home Page

HCV Action Now

Things You Can Do

Related Links

John Sullivan Sr

Personal Stories

Personal Stories Miles Keaton Andrew Rudi Cilibrasi (website originator, scientist) Gavin Kistner John Sullivan Sr C. L. Villani Anne C. Hanna Jeff Pruitt

Distribute flyers

Print and Go!

Research News

Hepatitis C Virus Action Now

Research News

HIV and HCV are very closely related

New Drugs Just Around the Corner

Currently active HCV researchers

Scientific review articles

kaihsu

Several well-known public figures

Pamela and Naomi, we salute your courage!

Rudi Cilibrasi

politicians

For shame!

For shame!

Don’t pity dat foo’ Bush

Some theory

Background Information

What is HCV?

The Silent Epidemic

HCV Is Underfunded

HCV Mortality Statistics

Treatment of HCV

HCV in the News

Additional Information

Jeff Pruitt

delusional

I wonder why.

Guestbook

Guestbook

mad

Anne C. Hanna

Personal Stories

Miles Keaton Andrew

Rudi Cilibrasi (website originator, scientist)

Gavin Kistner

John Sullivan Sr

C. L. Villani

Anne C. Hanna

Jeff Pruitt