598: CDC’s Hepatitis C Strategy, Wastewater Testing Debate

ROBERT JOHNSON: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, February 9, 2024. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

CAROLYN WESTER: 

We can't wait another 10 years to get the job done.

JOHNSON: 

It's been 10 years since a breakthrough treatment for Hepatitis C became available. But the problem according to the CDC's Dr. Carolyn Wester is that many people don't have access to diagnosis and treatment that cures more than 95% of cases. Wester says the CDC has a plan. First, encourage universal screening for all adults and pregnant people.

WESTER: 

Second, CDC has conducted analyses identifying gaps along every step of the viral clearance cascade, such as identifying that nearly a decade after breakthrough treatment became available, only one in three people diagnosed with hepatitis C have been treated. And this is even lower: one in four among Medicaid beneficiaries.

JOHNSON: 

Wester says her agency is trying to close the gap.

WESTER: 

CDC has funding health departments and community partners to provide bundled services in settings serving heavily impacted populations, such as people who inject drugs.

JOHNSON: 

Wester is excited that a new point-of-care test could be approved by the FDA before the end of the year. In the meantime, she hopes her colleagues across the country will engage the CDC strategy.

WESTER: 

So, we encourage public health officials to support not only the implementation of comprehensive viral hepatitis surveillance, but also to work with other leaders in your jurisdictions to ensure unrestricted access to hepatitis C testing and treatment among key populations, such as those served by Medicaid programs, substance use disorder treatment programs, or departments of correction.

JOHNSON: 

The CDC has many resources available to help you address hepatitis C in your jurisdiction. There are five links in today's show notes.

Wastewater testing indicates a surge in COVID infections around the U.S. Stateline Journalist Tim Henderson writes about the process that during the pandemic was considered a reliable way to track community outbreaks.

TIM HENDERSON: 

This used to be a debate over how to normalize it, how to say, "We find this level, but we're not sure what it means in terms of how many people actually have it in this wastewater area that they're talking about."

JOHNSON: 

In his article, he quotes experts who continue to support wastewater testing, including officials in Santa Clara County, California.

HENDERSON: 

They said, "Look, we know how many cases there were when we were testing everybody. And we've been doing it long enough." We know what the wastewater levels were like then. And so when we see wastewater levels now, we can say what it means how many people have it.

JOHNSON: 

While some have lost interest in tracking COVID infections through wastewater samples, Henderson says others believe it could be helpful in monitoring many illnesses.

HENDERSON: 

Another vision that some people have is that it could be used for all kinds of outbreaks. Just start doing it, and now whatever, you know, new crisis comes along, you'll be able to find a wastewater predictor of it.

JOHNSON: 

You can read Henderson's article in Stateline. The link is in the show notes.

Also today, ASTHO has designed a toolkit showing agencies how to leverage the Healthy People 2030 process to build nontraditional partnerships across many sectors. You can download it now using the link in the show notes.

Finally this morning, partnerships also are the focus of a new ASTHO report that explains how Pennsylvania agencies work together on environmental justice issues. It's available by clicking the link in the show notes.

Before we go, a reminder also to follow this newscast on your podcast player so you don't miss a single report and connect with ASTHO on social media. We're on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

That'll do it for today. We're back Monday morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great weekend.