Many of the Hepatitis C carriers who had taken the 12-week course of Viekira tablets have found it 95 per cent-plus effective. The next iteration, to be released shortly, is expected to be 99 per cent effective.
Until recently, New Zealanders had only Interferon and Ribavarin, with little prospect of a cure, and painful side-effects.
Now the virus is curable, treatment is free, side-effects are limited to itchy skin and dermatitis, and Viekira is contributing to world-wide eradication.
However, only half of the 50,000 New Zealanders estimated to be carrying the liver-damaging blood-borne virus are believed to have been diagnosed.
Northland DHB says 500 people in the region have been diagnosed, so 500 more are probably unaware that they have it. Now potential carriers were being encouraged to get tested and treated before they develop liver cancer.
Symptoms of Hepatitis C include fatigue, joint pain, loss of appetite, nausea and mood swings. Eighty per cent of those affected will develop chronic infection, 25 per cent will develop cirrhosis (severe scarring of the liver), and three to five per cent will die of liver cancer.
Potential carriers are likely to be aged between 45 and 70, the risk group including those who have injected drugs, have tattoos or body piercings, been in prison, have had hepatitis, jaundice or abnormal liver tests, had a blood transfusion before 1992, lived in or received medical treatment in SE Asia, the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Eastern Europe or Russia.
Some victims may have inherited Hepatitis C from their mother.
The DHB says shame regarding the origins of infection could lead many people to minimise or deny the seriousness of the disease, but Susan learned the benefits of stopping it before it led to cancer or cirrhosis.
"I did the original Inteferon and Ribavarin treatment, which took a year and nearly killed me. I was kind of desperate to get rid of it. I didn't like what it could be doing to me," she said.
She was one of the first patients to undergo the new treatment in Northland, and was now be recommending it to others.
"I know of one girl who's in denial," she said. "She knows she's got Hep C, and doesn't want to do anything about it. She believes it doesn't affect you, but I'm concerned about what will happen to her down the track. I'm looking forward to telling her about me and what I went through. If you don't do anything about it, your liver goes bang and won't be happy any more. Do something, and you'll extend your lifetime 10 years."
Another Northland patient, Clive, said he had also been "100 per cent cured" by the new treatment, and was "as happy as a pig in the proverbial."
"I'd had Hep C for quite a while and put on a huge amount of weight, but today I'm walking laps of the park and town. I couldn't have done that 12 months ago. I have more energy and I seem to be more active. With the liver problem, you lose energy and feel dull, which leads to weight gain. As a result of that, I got depressed and stayed at home," he said.
He had only recently become aware that he had Hep C, and didn't know how he had contracted it.
"I could have had it for 30 years. I only got diagnosed two years ago, when I came back from Australia," he added.
"There were two incidents — I stood on a syringe on the beach, then in New Zealand I had unprotected sex. But having said that, I was a heroin addict in my late 20s and I've got tattoos all over me."
