www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, July 9, 2015 | 14 Treatment drug can have harsh side effects, new ones are costly continued from p.12 Halton in 2014 and 38 residents identified as Hep B carriers. Worldwide stats suggest as many as 400 million people are infected with either Hep B or Hep C and 4,000 lives could be saved each day with treatment. "All forms of hepatitis are serious and Hepatitis A and B can be prevented by vaccines," said Dr. Neil Rau, an infectious disease specialist with Halton Healthcare Services (HHS). "Hepatitis B can become a chronic disease for some patients." A Hepatitis B vaccine has been routine for 12-year-olds since 1994 in Ontario. "Hepatitis C is potentially curable, but the challenge is ensuring appropriate access to treatment for all who would benefit while considering the significant drug costs," Dr. Rau said. "Hepatitis E is a bit like Hepatitis A, encountered through travel, but cannot yet be prevented by a vaccine." The Halton woman suspects she contracted the disease through her work. "I never took a sick day in 30 years," said the woman, who was a nurse for more than 30 years. "Sometimes you lose your Hep B immunity over the years so my family doctor decided to test it again and she checked for Hep C as well and it came back positive. It was so shocking. "When I started back in the early 1980s, we didn't have any protocols for needle sticks. If you stuck yourself you didn't really worry about it as long as you had your tetanus shots. "It wasn't until around 1992 when we really started understanding Hep C and HIV . So there was a long period of time when nurses poked themselves and never really worried about it. "The Hep C virus also lives on surfaces and our cleaning techniques back then weren't what they are today. I really have no idea how I contacted it, but getting it from the hospital seems to be the most logical answer." In 2014, there were 102 reported cases of Hep C in Halton, six more than in 2013 and 2012, according to Halton's Infectious Disease Report that will go to Regional Council on July 17. The Halton resident recently read an article about the prevalence of Hep C. "It sounds like medical officials are now recommending that anybody born between 1945 and 1965 be tested for Hep C," she said. "It's not a normal thing to get ticked off when you get a blood test and some doctors don't even think about it, but they should." As a result of being diagnosed, her entire immediate family and the family of her married son also had to get checked, she said. If not detected early enough the disease can destroy a person's liver starting with cirrhosis of the liver, cancer of the liver and then liver failure, she said. "Drinking probably doesn't help your liver if you have Hep C, but drinking doesn't necessarily cause liver problems," she said. She said people can become very ill or some, Keep a level head in an up - and - down market. like her, don't have any symptoms. "If you do have symptoms you become jaundice and very tired," she said. "You have a fever and become really sick. It can come on really acute or just for a bit and it moves on and you'd never know you had Hep C." It's been two years since she retired and a year since she was diagnosed and began treatment. Until recently, those with the disease had to undergo an Interferon treatment, but she was able to take a new treatment -- two different drugs each day for 12 weeks, which had only just been approved. If you have no virus in your system in 24 weeks you're considered cured. "That was part of the problem. You wouldn't want to put people through the treatment in order to kill it under the old treatment. Interferon is a horrible drug to take," she said. "It's my understanding you're so sick you want to die." Hep C is considered a communicable disease passed through blood so it's one of the provincially-required reportable diseases. "My worst fear was if one of our kids had it," she said. "But everybody was fine. The new medications she took aren't yet covered by OHIP . "We were lucky to have private insurance because just one of the drugs that I was taking would have cost at least $84,000," she said. "Interferon is covered so people without coverage still have to take that route or mortgage their homes. The drugs that I was on were just approved a month before I was diagnosed so how lucky was I?" Skyway Jewellers moving sale 75 AyA Kitchens of oAKville 1195 north service roAd west UP TO Select Sterling Silver Jewellery off % 905.847.1522 South Oakville Centre · 1515 Rebecca St. · 905.469.0520 ayaoakville.com www.skywayjewellers.com