It never gets old.

After telling the first 1000 people, nope, still love sending that email/making that call.

Next 1000 – still not old.

Next 1000 – not quite there yet, but working on it.

I love this story…..

Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching. As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

Great news!

78% of people are undetected at their 4 week test and it is a good sign because the 22% who are still detected form 44% of the relapses.

Make sure you take all the tablets. Occasionally people stop at this point assuming they are cured but there is still a bit of mopping up of the last stragglers.

but I will still reduce my intake of red meat just the same now that I know iron is one of the culprits leading to Alzheimers

Almost all of us (vegans being an exception) take in more iron each day than we need.

We have no way to get rid of iron so our bodies regulate the how much is absorbed.

The disease haemochromatosis is a genetic condition where patients absorb too much iron and the treatment is bleeding.

Unless you have haemochromatosis you body will absorb no more, and no less, than it needs so really the only thing you can do with your diet is reduce the iron in it to such a point that even absorbing 100% your body can’t get enough and you will become iron deficient and anaemic.

So, in short, there is no benefit in trying to restrict iron intake, and significant downsides if you don’t get enough.

SShady you are cured.

The <15 is the limit of quantification (counting) and the detected/undetected point is about <8 for that test, but here's the thing:

If you have had no treatment for 24 weeks.

The drugs have been below therapeutic (working) levels for at least 22 weeks and the virus, if still present, would now have grown back months ago.

You are cured, and we have patients with 20 years of follow-up proving that SVR24 is durable.

The only way you're going to see Hep C again is if you catch it again.

Hi Gert,

Good luck. The odds are solidly in your favour.

As you have probably read here, if you’re unlucky enough not to clear first time round, there is a Plan B

The pretext that will be used is to block NARCOTIC imports.

Nobody can argue about the fact a problem exists with narcotics in the USA.

The impact of importing fentanyl and carfentanil on this is trivial, however it forms the pretext.

There have been many recent stories like this in the USA. Politically what is happening is that a problem is being raised in the public mind to allow a solution to be delivered. The ground is being prepared.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/01/20/lethal-opioids-china-united-states-postal-service/96831328/

Anybody who does not think this is the work of Big Pharma, and that the target drugs to block are not narcotics, just does not get how the world actually works.

Big Pharma are bastards, but never doubt the fact they are cunning bastards.

Hello seedy,

The sad reality appears to be that for Thailand (at the moment) getting the medications outside Thailand and bringing them back always works, but for import by mail it’s luck of the draw – some shipments get through and some get seized.

REDEMPTION does not ship to Thailand because to the need to smuggle the medications in, however I suggest you join the Facebook group “Hepatitis C treatment w/o borders” and ask there. This group contains people familiar with the challenges in Thailand and ways to get medication into the country.

On the good news front Thailand is participating in the Pharco/DNDi trials of Sofosbuvir + Ravidasvir. Without boring you with too many details the expected outcome of this trial is a pan-genotypic treatment where the product has Data Exclusivity owned by “generic friendly consortium”. In the event Thailand issued a compulsory licence on Sofosbuvir it could be registered in Thailand and the target price is $300/12 weeks. Best case is that it’s still a year away, but it’s in the pipeline.