THE ROUGHLY three million Americans with hepatitis C had reason to cheer the Federal Drug Administration’s preliminary approval last month of two promising new drugs for treatment of the infectious liver disease.
But as welcome as the drugs are, especially since one is made by Cambridge-based Vertex, the public also needs to do a better job of protecting itself against exposure to the hepatitis C virus in the first place. That means never using a contaminated hypodermic needle, as drug addicts often do. On Thursday, the state released a report showing a disturbing surge in hepatitis C infections among young adults between 2002 and 2009.
Injection drug users and their sex partners make up the great majority of hepatitis C patients. Until the early 1990s, blood transfusions and transplanted organs were also a source of infection, but a test now detects the virus and rules out virtually all infected donations.
To reduce blood-borne infections, including HIV-AIDS, among drug users, the state in 2006 changed the law requiring doctors’ prescriptions for syringes, thereby allowing addicts to buy them over-the-counter. Also, Boston, Cambridge, Provincetown, and Northampton all provide clean needles to addicts in exchange for contaminated ones.
More cities and towns should follow their example. Local officials often have balked, for fear of fostering drug abuse. Studies have shown this is not the case, however, and the staff at needle-exchange programs encourage addicts to enter rehabilitation.
The new medications mark a great improvement in the treatment of hepatitis C, but at an estimated cost of $35,000 to $40,000. Preventing the infection from ever occurring, through drug rehab and access to clean needles, will always be the most effective tool for fighting this deadly disease.
