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England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

bbc.com

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Re: England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

#411

Post by MarceliusK »

amiga386 wrote: post #35
alistairSH wrote: post #3

Interesting that it's just England (and not Scotland, Wales, or NI). I realize they all have independent NHSs, but still would assume a program like this would rolled out across all the constituent countries.

Each nation has different social and health issues, each nation makes its own plan. All four nations NHSes work with a single charity, the Hep C Trust. They're all following the WHO targets for elimination -- you're hearing about this now soon after World Hepatitis Day (July 28th, as conceived of by the WHO). https://www.hepctrust.org.uk/blog/2026/07/four-nations-on-th... As for progress: - July 2026: Wales doesn't h…

So it is less "England has a program and the others don't" and more that each NHS is pursuing the same WHO goal independently, with different reporting and timelines

Re: England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

#412

Post by jijijijij »

Teknoman117 wrote: post #374
jijijijij wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> HPV 2 and Herpes are rather common Seems like both HSV-1 and HSV-2 seroprevalences are actually rather low in the Netherlands. As for STI testing: Serological testing is pretty meaningless regarding infection risk and direct viral detection is only done on visible lesions for differential diagnostics AFAIK. You can shed the virus without lesions, HSV-1 can be contracted without direct mucosa contact, and while HSV-…

Most of the stigmatization of HSV in the US is mostly the result of pharmaceutical companies trying to create a market for HSV antiviral drugs. In the 1980s they ran ads that equated HSV with leprosy. Since that was also the time of the AIDS scare the public was probably very susceptible. Even in my childhood I remember ads on TV for the antiviral drugs promising a way of "living a normal life" despite HSV infection.

That's crazy. Herpes can't be cured, so the implication of those ads can only be to "hide" the infection. Additionally, those antivirals aren't effective at preventing outbreaks unless you take them every day, which would be insane unless you are an unfortunate soul who is prone to constant outbreaks.

Re: England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

#413

Post by ericd »

laurencerowe wrote: post #365
tjohns wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a US perspective, even this seems wild to me. I've always been told that at least an annual physical exam with bloodwork is highly recommended as the standard of care for adults of all ages. Not everyone chooses to get them, of course. But ACA insurance plans here offer at least one annual physical exam free of charge (considered preventative care).

Annual exams were included in the ACA but as I understand it there is no evidence to show that they improve health outcomes. I had one once in 15 years when it was incentivised by my employer (presumably trying to show that we were low risk to reduce the rates they paid?) but otherwise my doctor has never tried to book me for one. I think I'd prefer the UK system where if you worry something is wrong you can see a do…

Anecdotally, I've found yearly physicals with full blood workup very helpful in heading off issues before they become much larger issues. For example, a random blood marker pointed at mold exposure. I thought that was strange, I didn't think we had any mold. Then I tore open one of my ceilings, there was a very slow leak in the bathroom above the top of that drywall was covered in mold. I replaced all of that drywall, and that blood marker shot down, and a few others improved drastically, and my energy levels improved. By going regularly, you get to see the trend lines on various things - those other markers had been going in a worrying direction over time.

Re: England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

#414

Post by floam »

andsoitis wrote: post #404
nly wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crazy how different healthcare is in different countries. In the UK once you've had your childhood vaccinations it's entirely possible you'd simply never see a doctor again in your life until you're ready for your prostate exam in older life. There are no regular checkups or preventative care on the NHS for mid life adults unless you're proactive

> In the UK once you've had your childhood vaccinations it's entirely possible you'd simply never see a doctor again in your life until you're ready for your prostate exam in older life. It is not customary in the UK to see a doctor at regular intervals for checkups?

How.. do people find out they’re diabetic before organs are borderline failing?

Re: England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

#416

Post by venzaspa »

tavavex wrote: post #363
alibarber wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand. It's an article about England. They only have information to hand about England, from the authority tasked with dealing with health in England. If I read an article from them about crime in London, quoting the Metropolitan Police, I don't immediately think that they don't care about, say, the West Midlands.

The mistake they made is to directly say "one of the first countries" in the article title, which immediately implies a comparison to foreign countries. But clearly, since they're talking about England, which is a subdivision of the UK, why aren't they comparing this achievement to equivalent subdivisions, such as states or provinces, in other nations instead? This isn't a direct comparison (which might also make it…

England and Scotland are separate countries, the UK is a federation of them both.

Re: England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

#417

Post by mft_ »

billfor wrote: post #259
r_lee wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean this is liberal/left heavy, it's to be expected, you can't just rummage in and expect people to be like hm good points you're right! when most of the audience is against you it's expected if you could delve into what supports your arguments that'd help more than "trust me instead" I personally am skeptical of many things, including pharma, but I'm not going to claim that vaccines don't work when historically t…

It didn't start out as liberal/left, so a lot of the people that have been here since 2010 want to keep most politics out it entirely. After all the name of the group is "Hackers". Most of the people in compsci/engineering were libertarian prior to 2007 anyway. It's really undergone a shift which is fine, but it actually adds absolutely nothing, from an intellectual point of view imho. It would be nice to at least se…

In 2010, vaccines weren’t really a divisive topic that was politically aligned. That’s come later as the right started to take an interest, and then accelerated via COVID and disagreements about the various approaches implemented to manage the epidemic by the government that caused controversy - masks, lockdowns, and vaccines.

Which is to say, it’s not so much the liberal/left causing a problem here - I think they’re just holding the ground they’ve always had - that vaccines are generally safe and generally a good thing.

Re: England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

#418

Post by com »

amarant wrote: post #409
unethical_ban wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What country are you in? Not challenging, I'm gathering perspective. I am in the US with health insurance through my employer and I get blood tests every 6-12 months to check for abnormalities as well as a standard interview for how I'm feeling and whatnot. Also have a few prescriptions that require 3-month checkins.

Sweden. Our system is pretty good at emergency care, but absolutely abysmal at preventive care, imo.

The Netherlands seems to be more or less similar, although I’ve had a mixed bag with medical knowledge an experience during emergency care: excellent to middling.

When I lived for a while in the UK, my GP strongly suggested close monitoring for a couple of things, and we saw improvements in some measures with lifestyle changes. Others were “we’ll keep an eye on it, if it gets bad, off you go for an inpatient visit to get you an extra 10 good years”.

Back in the Netherlands I have to get pushy and even a bit obnoxious at my GP before they even consider the concern, let alone schedule a blood test.

Re: England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

#419

Post by arethuza »

nephihaha wrote: post #382
arethuza wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK seems fairly relaxed about constituent parts leaving (Scotland was given a referendum, NI has option to leave if they want) - which I don't believe applies to US states?

Relaxed is not the word at all. Northern Ireland is a powderkeg and the UK government has known that for decades. The Scottish referendum did not use neutral international observers, and had extremely biased coverage by state media. The BBC itself even tried to stir up forms of violent unionism. (Look up the so called "passionate Highlander", a drunken loyalist type who talked about defending the union to the death "…

Well, I'm an independence supporting Scot and I don't have any concerns about the actual running of the referendum - I do agree that the BBC coverage was biased but I think that is largely because they are "conservative" (note the small C) in the sense of having a bias towards preserving the status-quo. This was pretty clear from the Brexit referendum where I thought they favoured the status-quo there and, as a Remainer, I guess I was pretty happy with that!

Re: England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

#420

Post by floki165 »

Seeing a 36% drop in mortality over a decade is huge progress, but it’s a good reminder that "elimination as a public health threat" still relies heavily on reaching hard to find, undiagnosed populations. The free home-testing push should help bridge that last gap.
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