Prison hepatitis C poised to infect U.S.

The Associated press report gives the impression that we(doctors treating Hepatitis C) know how to cure Hepatitis C and all would be well if we spent more money on treating prisoners for Hepatitis C before discharging them into the community to have sex and share needles! Today, We just have marginally effective drugs with extremely low cure rates. If they have a favorable genotype, Viral suppression (also called Sustained virological response) occurs in about 40% of intensely treated Caucasian patients(much less response in Afro-Americans). The prevalent genotype in USA responds poorly to treatment and has very high relapse rate soon after treatment with Pegylated Interferon and Ribavirin is stopped. In patients who are co-infected with Hepatitis C and HIV the treatment is difficult and usually unsuccessful. Both HIV and Hepatitis C/ B are spread by sexual contact and drug usage, rarely by blood transfusion. I think the society needs to agree on preventive measures by solid parenting, avoidance of sex outside marriage, pre-marital screening for incurable viral diseases, education of pre-teens on the horrific cconsequences of STDs, etc. Since America is not Singapore, human behavior cannot be regulated! This report however brings out one important question. Who was behind the study of the prison population? If it is the manufacturers of hepatitis C drugs, the study and its implications have to be questioned. This might be an extreme example of the very successful "direct to consumer" advertising!