Hepatitis C: A Silent Killer Stalking Too Many Brooklynites
According to Betty Vega, a member of the Brooklyn Hepatitis C Task Force – which is a partnership between the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Brooklyn community – the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a silent killer more prominent than HIV/AIDS, and is especially prevalent in Brooklyn.
However, if caught in time, it can be managed or even cured. That is the message Vega hopes to convey as she participates in the annual Hepatitis C March on May 18 from the southern tip of Whitehall Street in Battery Park, to City Hall Park – at Broadway between Park Row and Chamber Street – in lower Manhattan. Admission is free and the march begins at noon sharp, with registration from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The first 500 people will receive free tee shirts.
By Emily Keller
Comment
According to Betty Vega, a member of the Brooklyn Hepatitis C Task Force – which is a partnership between the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Brooklyn community – the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a silent killer more prominent than HIV/AIDS, and is especially prevalent in Brooklyn.
However, if caught in time, it can be managed or even cured. That is the message Vega hopes to convey as she participates in the annual Hepatitis C March on May 18 from the southern tip of Whitehall Street in Battery Park, to City Hall Park – at Broadway between Park Row and Chamber Street – in lower Manhattan. Admission is free and the march begins at noon sharp, with registration from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The first 500 people will receive free tee shirts.
“What I’m doing is just trying to educate people and get people to participate in the march. It’s a major epidemic and nobody seems to be talking about it. What we’re doing is just trying to get it out there so people know there is a killer virus out there,” said Vega.
“Brooklyn has an extremely high population of Hepatitis C. Brooklyn is the highest populated area in New York, with the least services available,” she added.
The task force that Vega is a part of comprises representatives from a variety of health agencies, including syringe exchange programs, HIV prevention agencies, substance abuse treatment programs, pharmacies and academic institutions.
Vega, who lives in Windsor Terrace, describes herself as “the only lay person” on the task force that meets monthly at Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, and says her role is to be a peer educator.
“What I bring to the task force is more of a personal involvement. I actually probably know more about it then they do in every respect because I have a personal relationship with the virus,” she said about her co-members.
“We’re trying to develop resources within the borough of Brooklyn as an outreach to Hepatitis C patients. We’re trying to get more sites where people can get tested, people can get treatment, and people can get services. Basically this is in every area of Brooklyn,” she said about the disease.
There are more than 300,000 people living with HCV citywide, and more than five million nationwide, according to the Latino Organization for Liver Awareness (LOLA), the 12-year-old non-profit that is organizing the march.
LOLA is a national bilingual organization dedicated to raising awareness about liver disease through informational materials, prevention and education, community outreach programs, treatment and referral services, support groups and newsletters.
And Vega says there are many more people who are positive that are unaware of their status because the virus that attacks its victims’ livers does so very slowly. Liver damage often takes decades to become apparent, and by that time it can be too late to treat, she said. “You can have this virus for maybe 20 or 30 years and not have one single symptom of Hepatitis C.”
That is why it is so important for people with no symptoms for the virus that is spread through intravenous drug use, occupational exposure to needle sticks, unprotected sex and sharing razors and toothbrushes, to get tested, she says.
Additional risk factors are having HIV/AIDS, being a patient of hemodialysis, having been incarcerated, being a Vietnam veteran, and having had a blood transfusion or organ transplant prior to 1992.
Symptoms include jaundice, dark urine, pale or very dark stools, extreme fatigue, and elevated liver enzymes. However, those with normal liver enzymes can still be infected.
Treatment that is available for those who test positive lasts from 6 months to 72 weeks. It consists of weekly injections and pills taken daily, and has side effects including fatigue, joint pain, headaches, anemia, nausea, loss of appetite and insomnia.
“It’s vital that the doctor that you choose has a lot of experience with Hepatitis C,” Vega said.
In best-case scenarios the treatment has a remarkable outcome for patients. “If they cleared the virus through the treatment that’s fantastic and the Hepatitis C will not attack anymore,” she said.
Liver transplants are also an option if the virus continues to attack or is not caught in time.
However, the disease can be fatal if it is not caught, which is why routine testing for Hepatitis C specifically – which Vega says is not part of routine blood work – is so important.
“People are not aware of the seriousness of this illness, and unfortunately will ultimately die because they never know they even have it,” said Vega. “This really will kill you and too many people have already died.”
But the disease need not be fatal and there is plenty that those who test positive can do to remain healthy, she says. “The first time you hear about it there’s probably shock and fear like there would be at hearing about any potentially terminal illness. And then you would need to understand that it doesn’t have to mean that at all,” said Vega.
Changing one’s diet to give up red meat helps, as does giving up alcohol and illegal drugs, the latter of which “will magnify the problem with your liver a million times,” Vega said.
Quitting smoking and avoiding chemicals like Clorox and those in other cleaners prevents further liver damage as well, she adds. People who are HCV positive should also avoid taking over-the-counter herbal remedies before checking with their doctors.
“Everything gets assimilated through your liver so you want to really do the very best you can for your liver,” she said.
For more information or to register in the march call (718) 892-8697 or go to www.lola-national.org.
However, if caught in time, it can be managed or even cured. That is the message Vega hopes to convey as she participates in the annual Hepatitis C March on May 18 from the southern tip of Whitehall Street in Battery Park, to City Hall Park – at Broadway between Park Row and Chamber Street – in lower Manhattan. Admission is free and the march begins at noon sharp, with registration from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The first 500 people will receive free tee shirts.
“What I’m doing is just trying to educate people and get people to participate in the march. It’s a major epidemic and nobody seems to be talking about it. What we’re doing is just trying to get it out there so people know there is a killer virus out there,” said Vega.
“Brooklyn has an extremely high population of Hepatitis C. Brooklyn is the highest populated area in New York, with the least services available,” she added.
The task force that Vega is a part of comprises representatives from a variety of health agencies, including syringe exchange programs, HIV prevention agencies, substance abuse treatment programs, pharmacies and academic institutions.
Vega, who lives in Windsor Terrace, describes herself as “the only lay person” on the task force that meets monthly at Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, and says her role is to be a peer educator.
“What I bring to the task force is more of a personal involvement. I actually probably know more about it then they do in every respect because I have a personal relationship with the virus,” she said about her co-members.
“We’re trying to develop resources within the borough of Brooklyn as an outreach to Hepatitis C patients. We’re trying to get more sites where people can get tested, people can get treatment, and people can get services. Basically this is in every area of Brooklyn,” she said about the disease.
There are more than 300,000 people living with HCV citywide, and more than five million nationwide, according to the Latino Organization for Liver Awareness (LOLA), the 12-year-old non-profit that is organizing the march.
LOLA is a national bilingual organization dedicated to raising awareness about liver disease through informational materials, prevention and education, community outreach programs, treatment and referral services, support groups and newsletters.
And Vega says there are many more people who are positive that are unaware of their status because the virus that attacks its victims’ livers does so very slowly. Liver damage often takes decades to become apparent, and by that time it can be too late to treat, she said. “You can have this virus for maybe 20 or 30 years and not have one single symptom of Hepatitis C.”
That is why it is so important for people with no symptoms for the virus that is spread through intravenous drug use, occupational exposure to needle sticks, unprotected sex and sharing razors and toothbrushes, to get tested, she says.
Additional risk factors are having HIV/AIDS, being a patient of hemodialysis, having been incarcerated, being a Vietnam veteran, and having had a blood transfusion or organ transplant prior to 1992.
Symptoms include jaundice, dark urine, pale or very dark stools, extreme fatigue, and elevated liver enzymes. However, those with normal liver enzymes can still be infected.
Treatment that is available for those who test positive lasts from 6 months to 72 weeks. It consists of weekly injections and pills taken daily, and has side effects including fatigue, joint pain, headaches, anemia, nausea, loss of appetite and insomnia.
“It’s vital that the doctor that you choose has a lot of experience with Hepatitis C,” Vega said.
In best-case scenarios the treatment has a remarkable outcome for patients. “If they cleared the virus through the treatment that’s fantastic and the Hepatitis C will not attack anymore,” she said.
Liver transplants are also an option if the virus continues to attack or is not caught in time.
However, the disease can be fatal if it is not caught, which is why routine testing for Hepatitis C specifically – which Vega says is not part of routine blood work – is so important.
“People are not aware of the seriousness of this illness, and unfortunately will ultimately die because they never know they even have it,” said Vega. “This really will kill you and too many people have already died.”
But the disease need not be fatal and there is plenty that those who test positive can do to remain healthy, she says. “The first time you hear about it there’s probably shock and fear like there would be at hearing about any potentially terminal illness. And then you would need to understand that it doesn’t have to mean that at all,” said Vega.
Changing one’s diet to give up red meat helps, as does giving up alcohol and illegal drugs, the latter of which “will magnify the problem with your liver a million times,” Vega said.
Quitting smoking and avoiding chemicals like Clorox and those in other cleaners prevents further liver damage as well, she adds. People who are HCV positive should also avoid taking over-the-counter herbal remedies before checking with their doctors.
“Everything gets assimilated through your liver so you want to really do the very best you can for your liver,” she said.
For more information or to register in the march call (718) 892-8697 or go to www.lola-national.org.
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