Falsifying Data to Meet Corporate Need:

Is the recent increase in the reported cases of hepatitis C / NANB a real increase?
In 1994, the CDC could not deny the failure of public health to report HCV infections. Eighty-five percent reported increases in the number of cases reported during the past 5 years. But it was discovered, because of the failure to report "acute" HCV infection, the data could only identify a true 12%  increase in the disease incidence. 5

• First time HCV by IUD is reported
  1994 Hepatitis C United States, 1982-1993  Estimated Incidence of Acute  
  Hepatitis C by IUD 38% 
  http://march-on-dc.com/CDC/GAO/Incidence-sentential1982-1993.htm
   
• 1997 Recent studies have demonstrated that injecting-drug use currently accounts for 60% of HCV transmission in the United States. Alter MJ. Epidemiology of hepatitis C. Hepatology, 1997, 26:62S-65S.
   
• 2000-2002 Surveys National Household Survey on Drug Abuse states: 1.5% reported IDU-ever..., or 3.4 million persons). Prevalence was highest in persons aged 35 to 49 years"... 2
  http://march-on-dc.com/CDC/GAO/CDCFakesData.htm#2000-2002_surveys,_1.5%

  2000 Research & Policy Recommendations for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)/HIV Coinfection Critical Issues from TAG's forthcoming HCV/HIV Coinfection Report, version 2.0 February 2003 by Tracy Swan (The Treatment Action Group (TAG) fights to find a cure for AIDS) Action Plan
       1b. ...HCV prevalence among injection drug users (IDUs) is estimated at 70% to 90% (Alter 1998...)

   
• Where's the data used to substantiate another 10-30% increase from Alter's 1997 findings?

  CNN: Panel warns of explosion in hepatitis C deaths - Hepatitis C is spread most commonly by needle sharing among intravenous drug users.

  Despite the flawed data from 1994 that could only identify a true 12%  increase in the disease incidence, 5 the figures were used by NIDA to support a super-sized hepatitis C epidemic by injected drug users. CDC's corporate interest capitalized on the opportunity to control HCV funding. The results have mislead actual transmission methods for the virus, and strictly for capitol gain.
   

• According to Alter, MJ and National Institute on Drug Abuse [NIDA]
  Out of 1.5% of the population or  3.4 million IV drug users ever, 3 060 000 are positive for Hepatitis C   

Here we go again!

•  NEW: 2007 CDC Scientist ASSUME?
  HCV & Injection Drug Users in the United States, 1979-2002, An Aging Population
  CDC fakes data for corporate takeover of Hepatitis C funding:..2
  
  "Among the roughly 2 million US prisoners, for example, the prevalence of antibodies to HCV is approximately 15% to 40%..."30% of prisoners have ever engaged in IDU, then the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse/National Survey on Drug Use and Health would have undercounted injection drug users by approximately 600 000." 12
  http://march-on-dc.com/CDC/GAO/CDCFakesData.htm
  
  Assuming is not based on scientific data -
   

• But What about the Prison Experimentation with Hepatitis, which occurred during the time most USA citizens became infected? The government began experimenting on prisoners with hepatitis, as a result, prisons have been in epidemic status since 1963....28 per cent of the men who participated in the Hepatitis military experimental multi state prison programs, during the 1960s, came down with the disease. For those who did not take part, the rate was only 1 percent..3

These totals account for 3 660 000 out of the CDC declared 4 000 000 people infected.

Getting It Right

The Truth- Drug Use Declined in 1998 Tseng and colleagues focused on HCV and HBV antibody prevalence in users who participated between 1998 and 2000 and compared them to those of users who participated in 1987... Only 47 percent of participants who had been injecting drugs for less than two years were infected with HCV, compared to 71 percent who had been using for 6-9 years. Comparable rates among the 1987 population were 76 percent and 91 percent.

The Truth about the Hepatitis C epidemic from the US Congress.
1998 HEPATITIS C: SILENT EPIDEMIC, MUTE PUBLIC HEALTH RESPONSE Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Liver and Biliary Diseases Strategic Plan,'' March 1998 (in subcommittee files). It is noteworthy that the National Institute on Drug Abuse [NIDA] spent the most NIH resources and continues to spend the most resources on HCV research, which may reflect an institutional bias within HHS that HCV is a disease of injection drug users. This bias may have worked against early recognition of HCV as a broader public health problem.
http://www.march-on-dc.com/CDC/GAO/GAO1998.htm

The Truth about the Hepatitis C epidemic from the scientists.
Sexual Transmission of HCV Is Uncommon Among Heterosexual Injection Drug Users "Our results are consistent with prior research indicating that sexual contact plays little role in HCV transmission.
http://www.march-on-dc.com/CDC/Crimes/SexUncommon.htm

Read more-
HCV by Sex- debate continues
http://forums.prospero.com/n/mb/display.asp?webtag=march_on_dc&msg=1930.1

The Consequences

• New U.N. to Cut Estimate Of AIDS Epidemic Population With Virus Overstated by Millions "There was a tendency toward alarmism, and that fit perhaps a certain fundraising agenda"
   
• CDC overestimates cases of HIV/AIDS
  The facts do not support the erroneous inference that the heterosexual population and children are at risk from this disease.
   
• HIV Testing? Not in My ER HIV...did not increase between 1994 and 2004, despite specific recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• CDC Goals For HCV-
  The goals of hepatitis C prevention and control efforts are:
  1) to reduce the incidence of new infections by reducing HCV transmission; .....
  
  Hepatitis C Strategy plan calls for the merge of Hepatitis C into sexual transmitted diseases (STDs) for primary prevention services. STD prevention begins with changing the sexual behaviors that place persons at risk for infection.
   

•  Testing for HCV is based on STD and HIV risk factors
   

•  Washington State HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report - 05/31/2007
  2007 YTD
  21 % had No known risk factor identified
  5% identified as IDU
  62% identified Male/male sex
   

• Most At Risk HIV Diagnoses Among Injection-Drug Users in States with HIV Surveillance --- 25 States, 1994--2000 ...A total of 177,660 gay HIV patients have HCV RNA positive semen verses being gay, with only HCV infections (18.4%)...4000 new cases of Hepatitis C transmission routes cannot be identified.
  
  No evidence of a hepatitis C epidemic in HIV negative gay men
  The study found that the likelihood of being newly diagnosed with hepatitis C was not significantly greater in gay men than it was in heterosexual men, and hepatitis C infection was much more strongly associated with having HIV than it was with sexual orientation.
   

• CDC overestimates cases of HIV/AIDS
  The facts do not support the erroneous inference that the heterosexual population and children are at risk from this disease.
   

• May 1, 2002, issue of Substance Use & Misuse, may indicate that use of drugs is not the only risk factor for HCV. Of 107 women and 251 men from the Lower East Side of Manhattan who reported never injecting, 14 percent of the women and 18 percent of the men were found to be infected with hepatitis C. Of the 171 women in the East Harlem sample who reported no history of injection drug use, 17 percent were found to be infected...
   

• HCV more prevalent and easier to contract than HIV 
  Dr. Mark Tyndall,  B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS."..the current strategies we have probably aren't going to work if people continue to inject drugs."...Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that can be spread through sharing needles, but also through a shared toothbrush or razor...6
   

• National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Post Bag 33, CIT Road Scheme XM, Kolkata 700010, India kamal412496@yahoo.com  "this continuous increase in HCV infection among IDUs, despite the needle and syringe exchange programme, is a cause for concern. The cause of this striking increase in HCV infection is unclear."
   
• The needle-exchange program: This is 'success'? HIV prevention methods do not work for HCV.  A privately funded ...After four years , the facts speak for themselves...7

  Confirmed		cases of Hepatitis C
  	2002- 2003- 2004- 2005-,	149 298 211 393
  During that period there were about 100 HIV cases annually in the county.

• American College of Gastroenterology-October 2006 75% of College Students Report Risk Factors for Hepatitis C College undergraduates in the United States do not recognize the magnitude of their risk behaviors for contracting Hepatitis C, ....75 percent... potential Hepatitis C risk factor, from tattoos to sharing body jewelry. Results of this study were presented at the 71st Annual Scientific Meeting of the  in Las Vegas.  
   
• Half of UK Students at Risk of Silent Time Bomb Disease Hepatitis C can be passed by piercing, tattoos, transfusion, injection, razors, sharing toothbrushes, dental work and by sharing notes.
   

• TIMES INVESTIGATION
  Transplant monitor lax in oversight
  October 22, 2006
  U.S. organ network routinely fails to detect problems.
  By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber,
  Times Staff Writers

  • The little-known organization that oversees the nation's organ transplant system often fails to detect or decisively fix problems at derelict hospitals — even when patients are dying at excessive rates, a Times investigation has found.

References:

1. A Critical Strategy in AIDS Prevention Adisa Douglas, Director of Programs Revised-Edition July 2006 Harm Reduction
   PUBLIC WELFARE FOUNDATION http://www.march-on-dc.com/CDC/24percentHIVIUD2006.htm

2. HCV & Injection Drug Users in the United States, 1979-2002, An Aging Population Gregory L. Armstrong, MD
   Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga. Arch Intern Med. Jan 27, 2007;167:166-173. http://www.march-on-dc.com/CDC/GAO/CDCFakesData.htm

3.  PRISON DRUG & PLASMA PROJECTS LEAVE FATAL TRAIL - The New York Times, Page 1 -July 29, 1969
   By WALTER RUGABER Washington, July 28 --  http://hcvets.com/data/transmission_methods/published_articles/new_york_times_1969.htm 

4. Hepatitis C- United States, 1982-1993 Estimated Incidence of Acute Hepatitis Source: CDC Sentinel Counties Study of Acute Viral Hepatitis http://www.march-on-dc.com/CDC/Incidence-sentential1982-1993.htm

5. Is the recent increase in the reported cases of hepatitis C / NANB a real increase? Am J Infect Control. 1996 Oct;24(5):415-6
   http://www.march-on-dc.com/CDC/Incidence-sentential1982-1993.htm

6.  HCV more prevalent and easier to contract than HIV C-HEALTH By WENDY COX -- Canadian Press
   http://hcvets.com/data/transmission_methods/hepatitis_c_more_prevalent_and_e.htm

7. The needle-exchange program: This is 'success'? HIV prevention methods do not work for HCV Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Editorial www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/opinion/archive/s_436159.html