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ALBANY — A first-ever summit on hepatitis C kicked off Tuesday morning with strong support from state officials for the goal of eliminating the virus, as new cases rise among young adults who are injection drug users.
“Together, we will eliminate hepatitis C,” state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said to dozens of government officials, health workers and activists assembled in a meeting room at the Empire State Plaza. “We have the technology, we have the expertise and we have the will to do it.”
An estimated 200,000 New Yorkers have chronic hepatitis C, and as many as half of them are unaware they carry the virus, according to the nonprofit advocate VOCAL-NY. The virus is spread most commonly by sharing needles. Baby boomers, age 53 to 71, are the most likely to have hepatitis C, but prevalence of the virus is growing among those age 20 to 40 amid an epidemic of heroin and opioid abuse.
Patient advocates are urging state officials to address hepatitis C, a virus that affects the liver, similarly to the way they have targeted AIDS with the an “End the Epidemic” campaign that aims to bring the number of new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to 750 per year by 2020.
In fact, Zucker spoke about priorities that echo the state’s strategy against AIDS: enhancing prevention among high-risk groups, expanding screening tests and increasing access to affordable treatment for those who test positive.
The sticking point may be the cost. Unlike drugs for HIV, which people take so they can live with the virus, hepatitis C drugs cure people with the illness. But they can cost close to $100,000 for treatments lasting up to 12 weeks.
Jeremy Saunders, co-director of Brooklyn-based VOCAL-NY, acknowledged that funding will be the challenge in accomplishing the group’s goals.
“What we’re seeing is growing political will,” Saunders said. “There will be a need for money to put behind it and policy as well.”
chughes@timesunion.com • 518-454-5417 • @hughesclaire
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