AirJet Exposure to HCV in Veterans - NPR News Story today

[kavita]

Hi Folks,

This might be of interested to veterans who may have been exposed to HCV during the Vietnam era and post-Vietnam era through the early 1990's.

http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/31428/20160330/a-test-a-cure-north-country-veterans-battle-hepatitis-c

Best wishes,

Kavita

[beto]

Thanks Kavita,

Those jet guns were barbaric.  With all that the Vietnam era vets had to go through, you add that to the mix.  The abused and forgotten veterans of a war that everyone wanted to forget about.  They suffered from PTSD before anyone took it serious.  They received the worst health care of any vets in history.  The surviving vets of that era deserve everyone's praise and attention.

Finally (if true) some good news.  Cure all that are HCV positive in short order and give them support and follow-up.  All of us inflicted with the virus have endured the awful stigma of HCV.  It must have been ten fold for Veterans of Nam, because the war itself was painted with the negative connotations of drug abuse throughout all the coverage in the media of that time.

My heart goes out to all of the living veterans of that awful war and the war on the home front that most continue to fight. 

[Lynn K]

I remember getting airgun shots in Basic Training in 1976 and a couple of other times later for flu shots. I have other risk factors so I don't think I got hep c from airgun shots.

[slats1056]

 This post jogged My memory when I read it. I remember getting immunization shots with an airgun injector in the early to mid 60's for school requirements several times. But I digress. Though I am one of the poster children for ways to get HCV , it is very doubtful that this was the cause in My case! Never even gave it a thought until reading this.

[lporterrn]

Actually Slats, you may have been exposed earlier than you thought, and immunizations may have transmitted hep C. Check out my blog on Monday for more on this...https://www.hepmag.com/blogger/lucindakporter

[beto]

So Lucinda,

While perusing your blog page i was harpooned by the essay that discusses HPgV-1 Pegavirus co-infection w/HCV.  Wow!  As I was searching for more information I found the link below that focuses on HPgV-2.  Have you come across that discovery?  I wonder what the implications are.  Like, do these pegavirus co-infections die with harvoni treatment?  Or, could it somehow be implicated with the post treatment syndrome that befalls some in EOT?  Now you got my curiosity going...

Anyway I know it is new science and it is going to be awhile before we know anything.  These viruses are so fascinating to me.  Makes one wonder about the viruses that we just do not know about, that are in the blood supply. (twilight Zone music here).

http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005325

[lporterrn]

Ah yes, here is a little blog I wrote on it, but basically, it won't tell you much more than what you read: https://www.hepmag.com/blog/hepatitis-c-relatives
And yes, there may be so much more, Rod Serling...

[Mugwump]

WW2 in the pacific was also one place where this disease might have early origins and first started to spread in the military of both the Australian and US armies, navy and air force. One of the most pressing issues was getting effective inoculations against tropical diseases and what was done might very well have introduced several of the genotypes of HCV into the populations where it was not prevalent. Serum was extracted from the blood of native populations of the south pacific indigenous peoples who had immunities to the tropical diseases that were targeted for the inoculation program.


There was then an increase in the number of cases of non specific serum hepatitis within the military which continued on and was not easily explained.
http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/communicablediseasesV5/chapter17.htm The inoculations by air gun might have been part of the equation but they were not the main cause of the rapid spread of non a non b after WW2.


Because the initial large exposure then spread on the battlefield, mostly in surgical situations, the disease then became many times more common among vets who served all the way to and including the Vietnam fiasco. We cannot forget that many who served in WW2 and Korea also served in Vietnam. It is time for the record to be set straight and the stigma surrounding this affliction needs to be exposed for what it is, a fear of the truth which has lead to stigmatization, ignorance and prejudice. The same way PTSD was stigmatised for so many centuries.

[FutureThinker]

Beto, thanks for that link -- I agree, the field of virology is fascinating! We still have an awful lot to learn, for sure. FT