LET THE SILENT EPIDEMIC BE HEARD NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS BRING LIGHT TO HEPATITIS C By
Ashley Chen Maha Khan
A silent epidemic is sweeping the nation. Discovered in 1989, hepatitis C struggles to gain the recognition it needs. For victims like Rick Starr, contraction of the disease occurred well before its discovery. Starr is one of the 75% of individuals infected who developed chronic hepatitis C because his body could not clear the virus on its own. It was only through a mandatory blood test for his job that he was diagnosed with hepatitis C. Due to social stigma surrounding the disease, he waited 7 years before seeking treatment. During those years, he experienced no obvious side effects: clinical diagnosis of hepatitis C is frequently missed because it is often asymptomatic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 3.5 million people are living with hepatitis C, and at least 50% of people living with hepatitis C do not know they are infected. This lack of awareness presents a serious issue as the rate of new hepatitis C cases is 4 times as high as they were 10 years ago among people ages 30-39 (Figure 1). By awarding the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology
20 || pulse
and Medicine to virologists Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice for their discovery of hepatitis C, there is hope for a revival of research in and greater understanding of the virus. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. It is usually spread through contaminated blood. The virus can cause abdominal pain, fatigue, jaundice, liver failure, and in some cases death. In 1967, the hepatitis B virus (HBV) was identified by Baruch Blumberg. At this time, Alter was working at a blood bank at the United States National Institutes of Health. Blood could be screened to ensure that people would not get HBV from a transfusion; however, patients were still developing hepatitis. The blood-borne agent causing the disease was not being screened out by the tests developed for hepatitis A and B. This prompted Alter to study the transmission of hepatitis caused by blood transfusions in the 1970s. Alter and his colleagues showed that a third, bloodborne viral pathogen could transmit the disease to chimpanzees.
