Hepatitis C is a viral infection that causes inflammation of the liver and can lead to serious liver damage. It spreads through contaminated blood, most often through intravenous drug use. At least 3.2 million Americans are living with chronic hepatitis C infection and most don’t know it. And with the ongoing opioid epidemic, the numbers of hepatitis C-infected donor organs may be growing as well, experts say.
“Because there is a number of young, otherwise, healthy people dying of drug overdose, there’s this large pool of donors with hepatitis C whose organs are available for transplant,” said Desai.
The new study, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, comes on the heels of a 2017 University of Pennsylvania trial using the same drug. In the previous study, UPenn researchers successfully used the antiviral medication on transplant patients after surgery.
“Because there is a number of young, otherwise, healthy people dying of drug overdose there’s this large pool of donors with hep C whose organs are available for transplant.”
“Because there is a number of young, otherwise, healthy people dying of drug overdose there’s this large pool of donors with hep C whose organs are available for transplant.”
Currently in the U.S. there are over 95,000 people on the kidney transplant waiting list. The wait for a deceased donor could be five years, and in some states, as long as 10 years. Patients are prioritized by how long they’ve been on the waiting list, their blood type, immune system activity and other factors. Four out of five people on the waiting list are on kidney dialysis and the longer a person is on dialysis and has to wait for a transplant, the lower their chance of a successful transplant.
On average, receiving a kidney transplant can double someone’s life expectancy.
“A patient who probably would have waited four or five years for a transplant can get one in less than a month,” Dr. David S. Goldberg, medical director for Living Donor Liver Transplantation at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania told NBC News in 2017.
Next, the Johns Hopkins researchers want to conduct larger trials for kidney patients, as well as new clinical trials transplanting hearts and lungs donated by people with the virus.
“Hepatitis C is curable now and we need to take a step back and really see this as an untapped supply of donors that can save hundreds if not thousands of lives,” Goldberg said.
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