Blood test for hepatitis C devised<br><br>From
AFP<br>22apr01<br><br>01.40 (AEST) A SIMPLE blood test could in future be
used to determine the <br>seriousness<br>of hepatitis
C and avoid liver biopsies that cause many to
refuse treatment <br>of the disease, a<br>French doctor
said today. <br><br>An estimated 200 million people
worldwide are infected with the hepatitis C <br>virus,
which<br>is transmitted through blood or body fluids.
<br><br>Professor Thierry Poynard told the 36th European congress
of the association <br>for liver<br>studies that his
new test analyses five proteins that are present in
large <br>quantities in the<br>blood and which make up
the "memory" of the mechanisms that lead to scarring
<br>of the<br>liver.<br><br>The main effect of hepatitis
C, cirrhosis of the liver, results from the
<br>scarring, or fibrosis,<br>of the liver. Chronic liver
disease affects about two-thirds of those <br>afflicted
with hepatitis<br>C.<br><br>Poynard, who works at the
Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, said the test <br>could also
be<br>used in the treatment of other diseases, such as the
milder hepatitis B or <br>alcoholism.<br><br>At present,
the only method of determining the extent of the
fibrosis is <br>through a biopsy,<br>which involves
doctors taking a tissue sample from the liver using a
long <br>needle.<br><br>Poynard said the biopsy causes
major pain in about 30 per cent of those <br>undergoing
the<br>procedure, and results in serious accidents in three per
cent and in death in <br>about three out<br>of 10,000
patients.<br><br>He quoted a recent study that said about 50 per cent
of hepatitis C sufferers <br>refuse<br>biopsies.
This fear of biopsies explains why so few of those
stricken with <br>the disease seek<br>treatment, Poynard
said.
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