http://news. brisbanetimes. com.au/breaking- news-national/ kids-with-
hepatitis- go-without- treatment- 20090614- c73m.html

Kids with hepatitis go without treatment

Danny Rose
June 14, 2009

Many Australian children with hepatitis are going without the medicines they
need because of a "head in the sand" approach by health authorities, new
research has found.
The NSW-based study found only six per cent of kids with hepatitis were referred
to a specialist clinic after state health authorities were notified of their
cases.
Dr Edward O'Loughlin, of The Children's Hospital at Westmead, reviewed the cases
of 1,700 children notified to NSW Health as having hepatitis C or hepatitis B.
He found fewer than 110 of the children had been referred on to a specialist
clinic for treatment, and none of those with hepatitis C were put on necessary
anti-viral drugs.
"A majority of these kids aren't receiving appropriate treatment," Dr O'Loughlin
said.
"And we rang our colleagues and spoke to them in the different states... It's
very similar all around Australia."
Dr O'Loughlin's study took in all children with hepatitis who were notified to
NSW Health from 2000 to 2007. Many more children would be living with the
condition across the country, he says.
Despite this, he says, hepatitis-related health programs and clinics often made
no provision for children.
The drugs approved to treat hepatitis C are not listed for use by patients under
18 on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Young people with hepatitis infections in Australia are often the children of
migrants or injecting drug users.
Dr O'Loughlin says he knows of only one Melbourne hospital treating hepatitis C
children on a "compassionate" basis.
If the condition goes untreated, hepatitis infections can cause death or serious
illness through liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer.
"Because (health authorities) are burying their head in the sand over this, we
really have no idea what's going on out there in the community," Dr O'Loughlin
says.
"We think what we're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg."
Dr O'Loughlin is calling for the establishment of a coordinated healthcare
service for children with chronic hepatitis in Australia.
His research is published in the Medical Journal of Australia.


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