House Panel Calls Attention to Viral Hepatitis Threat

House Panel Calls Attention to Viral Hepatitis Threat

CQ HEALTHBEAT NEWS
June 17, 2010 – 5:43 p.m.
By John Reichard, CQ HealthBeat Editor

Ignorance and neglect are the hallmarks of the viral hepatitis epidemic – not only among the millions of people who are unaware they have the often-lethal condition, but also among policy makers who are more aware of the threat it poses.

That was the message delivered by witnesses and lawmakers at a hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Thursday. Their aim: prod Congress and the Obama administration to respond more aggressively to the disease.

The Obama administration witness at the hearing said he gets it. But the signs of a more aggressive government response aren’t entirely reassuring, say groups that have organized to counter the disease.

Some 6 million Americans are living with chronic infection from hepatitis B and C, yet half of those with the B virus and three-quarters of those with the C virus don’t know they have it, the committee said in a notice announcing the hearing.

A major focus was to call attention to the findings of a six-month-old Institute of Medicine (IoM) report on viral hepatitis and the need to implement its recommendations.

Randall Mayer, who testified on behalf of the institute, noted that 150,000 people in the United States are expected to die from liver cancer and other liver diseases associated with the hepatitis B and C viruses.

An estimated 3.5 million to 5.3 million Americans are living with chronic infections from the viruses. Globally the toll of this “secret epidemic” is staggering: one of every 12 people globally has chronic viral hepatitis, about 54,000 of whom immigrate to the United States annually. And about a million deaths occur worldwide from the disease each year.

Greater use of the hepatitis B vaccine has driven down the incidence of that disease in the United States but 43,000 new cases still occur domestically each year. And there is no vaccine for hepatitis C.

The IoM report includes various recommendations to improve surveillance systems to detect viral hepatitis; public health officials around the United States have inadequate systems to monitor the disease. The report also directs publicity campaigns targeting at-risk populations who unknowingly spread the viruses, increase hepatitis B vaccination, develop a hepatitis C vaccine, improve screening for viral hepatitis and give intravenous drug users access to sterile needles to lessen its spread.

Howard K. Koh, assistant secretary for health at HHS, testified that the department “is taking immediate and coordinated steps to reverse” the growing medical and economic burden of viral hepatitis.

As part of its response to the IoM report, HHS has established an interagency working group to better coordinate the responses of the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies. A subcommittee of the group is due to produce a “comprehensive strategic action plan” by Oct. 1, Koh said.

But Julie Scofield, executive director of the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, said in a statement that “while there has been recent increased interest in hepatitis within the administration and Congress, this interest has not yet translated into additional funding.”

The group’s statement called the hearing Thursday “the first time Congress has formally examined the federal response to viral hepatitis since December 2004. There has been little progress made in developing a comprehensive prevention and control program in the U.S. due to a lack of funding.”

The National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable, a coalition of some 175 public, private and volunteer groups involved in countering viral hepatitis, announced a new print ad campaign urging swift passage of a bill (HR 3974) to authorize prevention, education and research programs countering viral hepatitis. Sponsors include Rep. Michael M. Honda, D-Calif., and Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., who chaired Thursday’s hearing.

A tag line of the ad campaign: “If Congress gets on the case now, the leading cause of liver cancer won’t stand a chance.”