A parliamentary health committee has announced an inquiry into hepatitis C in Australia, to look at treatment, testing, prevention and the cost of the virus which has been dubbed Australia’s neglected epidemic.
The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health announced the inquiry on Wednesday, which will include two round tables with community support groups and medical experts early next year.
It is estimated about 4000 people in Canberra are living with chronic hepatitis C and 230,000 people nationally have a chronic long-lasting infection.
Notifications of hepatitis B and C in the ACT have been on the rise in recent years, with figures showing there were 184 notifications of hepatitis C in 2013, up from 147 the previous year, and 111 of hepatitis B, up from 106 in 2012.
Hepatitis Australia estimates that just 1 per cent of people living with hepatitis C receive treatment annually.
The organisation’s chief executive Helen Tyrrell said hepatitis C had been neglected as an epidemic in Australia.
“It’s really in the shadows of many other blood-borne viruses which actually have a lower prevalence but much higher profile in the community,” she said.
“The issue with hep C at the moment is that we’re really at a watershed moment where we’ve got 250,000 people in Australia living with hepatitis and about three-quarters of those are already over the age of 40 and we know that puts them into the ‘liver danger zone’ which means they are at the point where their risk of serious liver disease is significantly increased.”
The inquiry next year will examine the prevalence of hepatitis C in Australia and look at early testing and treatment options.
The committee will also investigate the costs associated with treating hepatitis C and consider methods used for the prevention of new infections and methods for reducing the stigma associated with a positive diagnosis.
“There’s currently 230,000 people living with chronic hepatitis C infections so I would consider that quite an enormous problem,” committee chair Steve Irons said.
Mr Irons said the inquiry would also look at whether enough was being done to tackle hepatitis C in Australia.
Ms Tyrrell believes the inquiry could be a turning point in the battle against the blood-borne virus in Australia.
“I think an inquiry will certainly help to push along what is needed at government level to turn the tide on the hepatitis C epidemic,” she said.
“We’ve actually got the chance to make hepatitis C into a rare condition in Australia and that opportunity doesn’t come up very often at all.
“The hepatitis C treatments are a modern medical miracle and we need to take advantage of it because if we don’t what we’re going to see is a tidal wave of liver disease coming through the hospital system and costing lives and costing the taxpayer, through healthcare costs, an enormous amount of money.”