The use of complementary and alternative medicine in an Irish cohort of people with an iatrogenic hepatitis C infection: results from a health and lifestyle survey.

Introduction: A cohort of people with iatrogenic HCV infection, current or resolved, in Ireland have access to primary and secondary health care services, including specified complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services, free of charge.

Objectives: Information about their pattern of CAM usage and its association with various demographic and lifestyle factors, and current HCV status, was sought as part of a health and lifestyle survey, in order to provide information for health service planning.

Design And Methods: The survey was carried out by self-administered postal questionnaire.

Re-infection following sustained virological response with a different hepatitis C virus genotype: implications for infection control policy.

We report the case of a 45-year-old haemodialysis patient who achieved a sustained virological response (SVR) following pegylated interferon therapy for hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 2 infection. He was subsequently cohorted with other HCV-infected dialysis patients and became re-infected with HCV genotype 3a. Epidemiological and molecular investigations identified a highly viraemic HCV genotype 3a-infected dialysis patient as the likely source of this infection.