Hepatitis C — A Brief Overview

An experienced executive in the nonprofit sector, Rodney Goodie has served as the CEO of St. Hope Foundation in Houston, Texas, since 1999. In this position, Rodney Goodie manages a community health center that provides patient-centered services for a variety of conditions, including hepatitis C.

Affecting approximately 3.5 million people across the United States, hepatitis C is a viral infection that causes liver inflammation and can lead to serious complications, including cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure. Due to these and other complications, hepatitis C is currently the leading cause for liver transplantation in the country.

Because the infection usually produces no symptoms when it first enters the body, many individuals with hepatitis C don’t find out that they have it until years later, when liver damage is detected through routine medical tests. For many years, treating hepatitis C required weekly injections and other medications that caused unacceptable side effects in many patients. Recent advances, however, have changed how hepatitis C is treated and have led to a significant increase in the rate of cure.

Today, once-daily medications with the ability to cure the disease are available to hepatitis C patients. These include Zepatier and Harvoni, which both use a combination of two drugs. Unlike earlier medications, the most common side effects associated with these prescriptions are fatigue and headache.