Heather French, Her fight for Vets and Against Hep-C

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Joined: Aug 21, 2001
Posts: 77 Posted: 2001-08-31 00:05
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Ex-Miss America dethrones hepatitis C

Oct. 17, 2000



By John Morgan

With medical adviser Stephen A. Shoop, M.D.

A Doctor In Your House.com





Heather French crowns the new Miss America, Angela Perez Baraquio, on Saturday (AP)



Saturday night in Atlantic City, N.J., Miss Hawaii Angela Perez Baraquio was crowned Miss America 2001. The 24-year-old elementary school gym teacher said she plans to promote character education.



If she needed a finer example of character, Baraquio didn't need to look further than the woman who placed this year's crown on her head ? Miss America 2000 Heather French.



French has traveled relentlessly over the past year promoting her platform of helping homeless veterans. In what can only be described as a national embarrassment, data indicates that 33% or more of homeless Americans have served in the armed forces. But French is on a mission to heal that wound.



"I am the daughter of a disabled Vietnam veteran first and foremost. He's my Mr. America," says French. "I have seen firsthand the extraordinary health challenges veterans face. How we treat our veterans reflects our integrity as a nation."



Like Baraquio, French is also an educator, spending countless hours to raise awareness about one of the most serious health concerns facing veterans today ? hepatitis C.



Hepatitis C is an inflammation of the liver caused by an opportunistic virus. This hepatitis C virus (HCV) is often called a silent disease because it can "hide" in the body for up to 30 years as it ravages the liver. HCV causes 40% of end-stage cirrhosis of the liver and up to half of all liver cancer.



The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 1.8% of the U.S. population, or approximately 4 million Americans, are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Every year up to 10,000 people die from complications caused by HCV.



Within the next two decades, unidentified HCV patients will become more apparent as their disease progresses. Deaths are projected to triple or quadruple.



But the numbers are already alarming.



Studies show that veterans have 5 to 6 times the rate of infection compared to the general public. And Vietnam-era veterans are particularly hard-hit. A 1998 study of 95,000 HCV tests conducted in VA facilities indicated that Vietnam vets accounted for about 64% of positive HCV tests.



This higher incidence is primarily attributed to soldiers' increased exposure to blood. However, blood contact is not the only method of infection. HCV can be transmitted by:



Blood transfusions prior to 1992



Shared needles, including those used for combat medical treatment



Unprotected sex with someone who has HCV



And some vets may have been infected unwittingly by military medical personnel.



"I've talked to lots of guys and we all remember getting inoculated by these air injector guns from both sides," recalls Terry Baker of the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) and Veterans Aimed Toward Awareness. "They never changed them or wiped them clean. And I know there was some blowback and blood."



Baker, who was diagnosed with HCV, says he suggested this possibility to the CDC. They told him he was being ridiculous.



Two months later, however, the air guns were removed from use, citing possible contamination risks.



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There are effective treatments for patients with HCV.



"The overall cure rate is around 40% depending on the type of HCV," explains Dr. Edmund J. Bini, attending physician of gastroenterology and hepatology at the VA New York Harbor Health Care Center.



According to Bini, the standard treatment now for HCV is Rebetron, a dual therapy consisting of interferon injection three times a week and ribavirin oral medication taken twice a day. Treatments typically last between 6-8 months depending on the type and severity of HCV.



There are three main strains or genotypes of HCV. Types 2 and 3, the more easily treated, enjoy cure rates of 60%. Only 25% of type 1 cases are cured.



Silent enemy



Since HCV is often asymptomatic, many veterans and civilians have no idea their lives are in danger, or that their spouses or even their children are at risk.



"I had no idea I had hepatitis C," says Baker emotionally. "Not much scares me but I was terrified I might have passed it on to my kids. I would have gone off the deep end."



Baker's children were fine. But his wife of 20 years was not. Both had to undergo year-long treatments for HCV with a private physician.



Baker responded extremely well. His wife had to go through two treatments because the adverse side effects of the medications halted her first treatment.



"I've had no detectable HCV for over a year now," reports Baker. He says his wife is now in her eighth month of undetectable HCV.



Friendly fire



But the deadliest enemy may not be the HCV itself but an age-old illness of veterans ? bureaucracy.



HCV is diagnosed with a simple blood test that detects antibodies to the virus. After a person tests positive for HCV, a more accurate blood test called a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) blood test is given to determine the amount of active virus in the blood.



Liver enzyme levels are also examined, and a biopsy is the preferred standard to determine how much liver damage has occurred.



Yet despite a National Institutes of Health report that indicates liver enzyme levels alone are insufficient to determine liver damage because as many as 30% of people with HCV have normal levels, some Veterans Administration (VA) facilities will not authorize a PCR test unless liver enzymes are elevated.



"Every credible hepatologist will tell you need a PCR and a biopsy to accurately determine a patient's hepatitis C exposure and the severity of liver damage," says Baker.



"In my opinion, that's an accurate assessment," confirms Bini who is also an assistant professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine.



"The VA is paying these vets lip service, hoping they'll either go away or die," states Baker. "They're trying to cut costs because they only get $3,249 compensation for these cases but the hepatitis C treatment costs $20-25,000."



What may be even more devastating is many vets are simply denied coverage for HCV treatment because their cases are deemed "unsubstantiated" or the result of accusations of "willful misconduct," a euphemism for drug use.



"The problem is we have to prove we got the disease while in service," explains Baker. "But it's nearly impossible because there were no tests for this virus prior to 1989. It's insanity."



Missing in action



Even the VA's own statistics betray the fact that they should be doing better. According to Baker, the VA did not even spend all the money budgeted for HCV treatment and they're not sure where the surplus is.



This is frustrating news to vets and their families at a time when the VA is currently treating a paltry 14% of new HCV cases.



That's why French reaches out to veterans across the country, urging them to get tested for free at the "Hep C mobile" that often tours with her. It's also why she lobbied Congress to mandate treatment for veterans who have HCV.



"These are our heroes. Some have fallen and now it is our duty to help them in their hour of need," says French passionately. "I will see in their faces the face of my father and I will not rest until the job is done."



While French has passed her crown on to Miss Hawaii, to America's veterans French will forever epitomize the title Miss America.



"She's our daughter, a brother's daughter and she truly cares," shares Baker. "She has brought more to us in the past year than has been given to us in the last fifty."



If you would like more information about HCV, contact Veterans Aimed Toward Awareness at http://www.veteranshepaware.com



An excellent source is the CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/h...is/C/index.htm



Or try the National Institutes Institute of Health at www.niaid.nih.gov/information/search.htm



_________________
Saw the people standin' thousand years in chains Somebody said it's different now, look, it's just the same...Pharoahs spin the message, round and round the truth..They could have saved a million people How can I tell you? ccr