Hepatitis C Support Group

Well said greg, I wondering the same thing.

This link make more since of it
http://hivplusmag.com/NewsStory.as...

It not a new mutation. It is that HIV will cause the Hep C virus
to attack the liver faster.
and the Hep C virus response better if it is found early
That is for everyone.

"Changing the perception and behavior of physicians and patients is difficult," says Fierer. "One of the main barriers to early detection is the lack of recognition by physicians and patients alike that HIV-infected MSM are at risk for HCV infection. This lack of perception of the problem results in lack of screening of HIV-infected MSM and therefore lack of timely diagnosis and treatment."


Fierer says the next steps in battling this epidemic are educating HIV providers about the existence of this epidemic, educating patients at risk that unprotected sex among HIV-infected men is a significant risk for HCV infection, and changing the official recommendations by the U.S. national authorities such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the HIV Medicine Association, etc., as has already been done in Europe and more recently at the state level in New York.

thanks ophanim for the post on 11/06/09

If you read the articles, you'll see it states it is a mutation of the virus.

Look for quotation marks
If it does not have quotation marks it's the reporters
interpretation of what the doctor said not what the doctor Fierer said

he added, "is astounding to me, and a fact that I think merits a lot of scientific scrutiny because there's clearly something very different about either the immunologic milieu or the fibrotic response of these coinfected livers that makes fibrosis run rampant."
I think coinfected is a typo should be co infected

immunologic milieu
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18908136

fibrotic response
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed...

And does not rule out a new type of hepatitis
Like hepatitis D witch does no harm unless you have
hepatitis B
Hepatitis D is a serious liver disease caused by the hepatitis D virus (HDV) and relies on HBV to replicate. It is uncommon in the United States.
There may be a new unknown type of hepatitis that needs hepatitis C to replicate
The fact that most had geno type 1a and 1 had 3a.
for there to be a mutation across geno types is unlikely
Good post ptiss sure made me do some research.

how strange? and i bet we're also going to find out that more people have hep C than is known?

Don't forget they now believe it can also have been linked to using the same straw as someone else to snort coke. So yeah there is a lot of things they don't know yet about HCV!

OK, I reread the article and then a couple others through a google search, and what I get is this.

1. These men all have HIV which destroys the immune system. Several already had fibrosis.

2. They were having unprotected sex.

3. The genotypes were found to be common ones! 1A in most of the 50 men, 1B in four of them and 3A in one of them. That is NOT a new form of HCV.

4 Men who have HIV and who are progressed into AIDS generally have sore all over their bodies. So unprotected sex, means sharing sores.

That they did pot or were high while having sex is meaningless. That they used sex toys could be a factor, if the sex toys touched open wounds on both of them. Would be no different than sharing a toothbrush or razor or IV needle.

We already know about acute HCV, and that is all I'm reading about here. And we already know that treating an acute HCV infection is more successful than treating a longstanding infection. So what's the deal? Why is this being reported as a new form of HCV? I say it's not, it's just that they are finding a lot of new cases right now. Not new HCV. And we already knew that unprotected sex with sores was a possible transmission source.

And what about women with HIV who take it from men with HIV? Or take it in the rear? Wouldn't they be at just as much a risk? I guess they just aren't stepping forward.

I think whoever wrote this article made a few mistakes. Another article is more factual, I think.
http://www.reuters.com/article/pre...

The word 'mutation' is not in the original press release.
http://www.reuters.com/article/pre...
It does say "new HCV" which I believe relates to it being acute, not chronic.
It also says "new epidemic" just above that, so it could relate to that too.

Last I heard, anal sex causes tears and thus a viable transmission site. Especially if one or both partners has a piercing, a sore or other skin breaks.

I think this could be a very true concern.

For the record...I am a member of the morality police. Wanna see my badge?

man...I sure am glad you guys helped put this into perspective...my first thoughts were that this was very bad news....now it seems like very bad reporting and questionable science...........much thanks !