Pandemic Era Tests May Speed Hepatitis-C Detection
The New York Times
A wave of diagnostics ushered in by Covid could help revive flagging efforts to eliminate the disease.
The Monday after Christmas, when Kellie Trent was scheduled to pick up medication to cure her hepatitis C, it seemed like a little miracle.
She was expected at the Pioneer Family Practice in western Washington State, seven months after screening positive for the blood-borne infection at a clinic that dispenses medication to treat her heroin addiction. All that time, as she underwent more tests and waited for results while in and out of residential drug treatment, addressing her hepatitis C remained out of reach.
On the eve of her December appointment, her physician, Dr. Lucinda Grande, grew concerned when a storm brought four inches of snow to the region, snarling the roads.
