36 | June• 2018
6 NEW TREATMENTS THAT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE
Hepatitis C
Around 230,500 Australians
and 50,000 New Zealanders
areinfectedwithhepatitis C.
THEGOODNEWS
Nowthereisacure.
HOWITHAPPENED
In2013anewclassofanti-viral
drugsbecameavailable.
It was the early 1990s, and 62-year-
old Leigh-Anne Maxwell had no idea
why, for years, she’d felt so awful;
neither did her doctors. hey’d tested
for mononucleosis, anaemia and
other obvious causes. Nothing. She
was constantly exhausted. She was
nauseated. She got yeast infections.
No one connected her symptoms
to the emergency surgery she’d had
yearsbefore.Itwasn’tuntilshetried
givingbloodthatshefinallygota
diagnosis.Anewscreeningtestcon-
irmedshewasinfectedwithhepati-
tisC,andcouldnotbeadonor.
Becausethevirusistransmitted
by blood, she knew immediately the
transfusionthathadsavedherlife
during her emergency surgery had
infectedherwithhepatitisC.Forthe
next 25 years, she continued to sufer.
According to epidemiologist
Dr Shruti Mehta, although some
will clear the infection on their own,
about75–85percentofthoseinfected
with hepatitis C go on to develop
chronic infections, “Which puts them
at risk for all sorts of long-term com-
plications associated with liver dis-
ease, primarily liver cirrhosis, liver
cancerandend-stageliverdisease.”
Whilemostpeoplewiththevirus
can be asymptomatic for years, even
decades, this was not so for Leigh-
Anne.Andtheonlytreatmentavail-
able when she was diagnosed ofered
justa50percentsuccessrate,but
Leigh-Anne wasn’t a candidate.
Then, beginning in 2013, newer
drugsbecameavailablethatwere
“nothing short of revolutionary,” says
Mehta.Buttheywereextremelycostly,
andmostdrugsonlyworkedagainst
certain strains of the virus. Again,
Leigh-Annewasn’tacandidate.
Then,inJanuary2017,shewas
oferedachancetotryabrand-new
medication, Zepatier. “Within a week
[after treatment completion] there
was a profound difference,” Leigh-
Annesays.Shenowhastheenergyto
doallthethingsshe’sbeenmissing.
Today there are treatments for all
major strains of hepatitis C, and in
Australia, treatment is subsidised
(in New Zealand, treatment is subsi-
dised for some strains of the virus).once were highly lethal are now more like chronic illnesses
thatpeoplecanlivewithformanyyears.Wecanalltakeheart
from these amazing advances in prevention and treatment.
PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK