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Increasing Government Funding for Liver
Disease Research at the NIH, Complementary and Alternative
Medicine Department
As my representative, you ought to know
liver disease is one of the major killers in America today.
Hepatitis C alone has been called a "silent
epidemic" by former surgeon general Everett Koop,
MD and it is estimated that as many as 4 to 5 million
Americans are infected.
The death rate due to complications from
this disease is expected to quadruple in the next 10 years.
Hepatitis is the number one cause for liver transplants
and those numbers are rising exponentially.
There is no approved cure and current treatment
has an inadequate success rate, even by physician standards
(while often causing debilitating side effects).
A study presented at the American Association
for the Study of Liver Diseases meeting on Tuesday November
9, 1999 concluded that long-term damage from hepatitis
C infections may cost the U.S. economy more than $81 billion
by 2019.
The study, by researchers from the New England
Medical Center and Tufts University School of Medicine,
looked at what costs can be expected in the ten years
from 2010 to 2019 as a result of the long-term effects
of hepatitis C infections.
Most people infected by the virus do not
notice any symptoms until serious liver damage starts
20 years or so later, although testing can detect the
infection and lead to early treatment.
The study used a computer model to estimate
the level of disease and death expected in the period
2010-2019 from existing and future infections. It found
that the medical costs of treating such liver damage as
cirrhosis and cancer would total at least $10.3 billion
in those ten years.
Productivity lost to the work force from
hepatitis C complications and death would equal another
$71.5 billion, the researchers, led by Dr John Wong, said.
"Our results suggest that hepatitis C will be an
awakening health issue that should be addressed now,"
Wong said in his paper.
There should be more dollars allocated to
the National Institutes of Health/Complementary and Alternative
Medicine division to help find a more effective treatment
for this deadly disease.
I am requesting that you investigate this
important area of public health and sponsor or co-sponsor
legislation to allocate more funds for NIH/CAM to explore
and investigate this area of grave concern.
Thank you for your attention and consideration
in regard to this serious matter.
Sincerely,
