Hepatitis C care continuum and associated barriers among people who inject drugs in Chennai, India

Of the estimated 15.6 million people who inject drugs (PWID) worldwide, approximately 8.2 million have been infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) (Degenhardt et al., 2017). Chronic HCV infection is a leading cause of cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and premature death (Cepeda et al., 2017; Greub et al., 2000; Kirk et al., 2013; Mehta et al., 2016). Prior to 2014, HCV treatment required weekly injections of pegylated interferon- α and daily doses of ribavirin for 24–48 weeks. These long-duration, interferon-based regimens were associated with suboptimal cure rates (∼50%) and severe side effects, leading to high rates of treatment discontinuation.

Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - April 18, 2018 Category: Addiction Authors: Eshan U. Patel, Sunil S. Solomon, Allison M. Mcfall, Aylur K. Srikrishnan, Amrose Pradeep, Paneerselvam Nandagopal, Oliver Laeyendecker, Aaron A.R. Tobian, David L. Thomas, Mark S. Sulkowski, M. Suresh Kumar, Shruti H. Mehta Tags: Research Paper Source Type: research