WSU to use grant to combat hepatitis C

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WSU to use grant to combat hepatitis C

By Mark Fisher

Dayton Daily News

Two decades of drug abuse — using shared needles in "shooting galleries" around Dayton to inject heroin and cocaine — left Tommie Darden with both HIV and hepatitis C.

You may be surprised at which worries him more.

"Hepatitis C is actually more scary to me now than HIV," Darden said. Drug-free for about three years, the 51-year-old Dayton man takes prescription medicines to keep his HIV from becoming full-blown AIDS. But the hepatitis C has silently attacked his liver for more than 10 years and could cause fatal liver cancer or cirrhosis that could very well kill him before AIDS would, Darden said doctors have told him.

Darden wants to prevent other Miami Valley residents from following his life path. So do State University's medical school researchers, who last month landed a $1.3 million, five-year federal grant to help combat the spread of hepatitis C in the Dayton area.

The task is difficult. Data is sketchy, but Montgomery County appears to have the highest rate of increase in reported hepatitis C cases among Ohio's 88 counties, said Dennis , associate professor of medicine and director of Substance Abuse Resources and Disability Issues at WSU's Boonshoft School of Medicine.

And even those statistics are almost certainly misleading, since the disease is vastly under-reported, said. Also, many people who may suspect they have the virus forego testing because of employment and health-insurance fears or the high cost of testing and treatment, said.

The disease's rapid rise prompted Ohio legislators to hold a joint hearing on the issue last month.

WSU researchers applied for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant because hepatitis C "hasn't been addressed in our community before," said. Preliminary data suggest that 250 Montgomery County residents are confirmed to have hepatitis C, "though we suspect the rate is much higher," he said.

The grant's first year will consist of planning and of determining the scope of the problem, said. Then project officials will work with the local justice system, the Urban League, health officials and others to educate at-risk populations, including prison parolees and drug abusers, about how to keep from getting the disease. And those who test positive for the virus will be given information on how to treat it and prevent its spread.

Darden will be helping in that effort, using his firsthand experiences to educate.

"Most of the people I know who have been diagnosed (with hepatitis C) continue to use" illegal drugs, Darden said. "They're completely oblivious to the disease and what they've got to do. They've got to get health-conscious."

Even though he's involved in 12-step programs and has been free of illegal drugs for about three years, Darden sees byproducts of the liver disease in his eyes.

"They don't clear up," he said, and he has had digestive tract problems. "Doctors have told me my eyes, fingernails, urine and other things will be affected."

He expects to be tested again soon "to see how much damage has been done to my liver."

He agonizes when he watches others — especially young people following the path he did.

"Youngsters, they think they're bulletproof. They're not," Darden said.

"I pray every day that people will start to take a proactive stance. It all starts with one."

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/1104hepatitis.html