For Immediate Release
*Please check with your local media to see when submissions are due, and insert the date you are physically sending it here.*
Contact: *Your Name*
On Behalf of the Hepatitis C Council of British Columbia
*Your Telephone #*
Hepatitis Awareness Day is May 19
On May 19th Hepatitis Awareness Day will be observed worldwide. In recognition of this day, the Hepatitis C Council of British Columbia wishes to bring attention to a preventable type of hepatitis that affects an estimated 50,000 people in BC.
Hepatitis C is a virus that attacks the liver and can lead to liver scarring and potentially liver cancer or liver failure. Hepatitis C affects hundreds of thousands of Canadians, many of whom are unaware of their infection, and has left no community untouched. According to the BC Centre for Disease Control, last year *insert health service delivery area* recorded *insert2008 number* new positive tests for the virus. In 2007 the number was *insert 2007 number*. This number only represents those who have tested locally. Due to significant and persisting and stigma around the virus many people will leave their communities to get tested, and because it may take 20-30 years for noticeable symptoms to present, many people do not get tested at all.
Hepatitis C is passed from one person to another through blood-to-blood contact. This can include sharing equipment used for injecting, smoking, or snorting drugs, tattooing or piercing with unsterile equipment, having received a blood transfusion or blood products prior to 1992, sharing personal hygiene equipment that can contain traces of blood (toothbrushes, tweezers, razors, etc.), or from mother to child during childbirth. Although hepatitis C is not generally considered to be a sexually transmitted infection, the potential for the virus to be passed sexually does exist under certain circumstances.
Not everyone who becomes infected with hepatitis C will die as a result of the virus. About one quarter of those who become infected with hepatitis C will clear the virus on their own, without taking any form of treatment. Of those who become chronic carriers of the virus, close to a third will experience minimal symptoms or may never experience any symptoms of liver damage. Approximately 20% will develop cirrhosis, and 5-10% will develop liver cancer or liver failure. There is treatment available for many people who are living with hepatitis C, and over half of those who take the full course of treatment will get rid of the virus altogether.
On May 19th please take time to remember those who are living with hepatitis C, those whose lives have been lost to the battle, and learn more about this preventable virus. If you wish to get tested locally, you can do so for free at *insert local testing sites*. If you are currently living with the virus and would like support, or if you would like more information about hepatitis C, please contact *insert local support services*.
*******
We welcome submissions to the HCCBC E-Newsletter. Please send articles to:
Deb Schmitz Executive Director Hepatitis C Council of BC deb@bchepcouncil.ca
*******
Our Council website contains resources to further assist people infected with and affected by Hepatitis C.
May 2009
May 2009 E-Newsletter
Hello everyone;
For use in you own community or area, this same message can be in newspapers around the province for World Hepatitis Day.
Deb Schmitz
Executive Director
Hepatitis C Council of BC
deb@bchepcouncil.ca
Please see attached files to help you complete your personal press release.
Media Release for World Hepatitis C Day (Word Doc)
Hepatitis C Testing Sites in British Columbia (PDF)
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
*Please check with your local media to see when submissions are due, and insert the date you are physically sending it here.*
Contact: *Your Name*
On Behalf of the Hepatitis C Council of British Columbia
*Your Telephone #*
Hepatitis Awareness Day is May 19
On May 19th Hepatitis Awareness Day will be observed worldwide. In recognition of this day, the Hepatitis C Council of British Columbia wishes to bring attention to a preventable type of hepatitis that affects an estimated 50,000 people in BC.
Hepatitis C is a virus that attacks the liver and can lead to liver scarring and potentially liver cancer or liver failure. Hepatitis C affects hundreds of thousands of Canadians, many of whom are unaware of their infection, and has left no community untouched. According to the BC Centre for Disease Control, last year *insert health service delivery area* recorded *insert2008 number* new positive tests for the virus. In 2007 the number was *insert 2007 number*. This number only represents those who have tested locally. Due to significant and persisting and stigma around the virus many people will leave their communities to get tested, and because it may take 20-30 years for noticeable symptoms to present, many people do not get tested at all.
Hepatitis C is passed from one person to another through blood-to-blood contact. This can include sharing equipment used for injecting, smoking, or snorting drugs, tattooing or piercing with unsterile equipment, having received a blood transfusion or blood products prior to 1992, sharing personal hygiene equipment that can contain traces of blood (toothbrushes, tweezers, razors, etc.), or from mother to child during childbirth. Although hepatitis C is not generally considered to be a sexually transmitted infection, the potential for the virus to be passed sexually does exist under certain circumstances.
Not everyone who becomes infected with hepatitis C will die as a result of the virus. About one quarter of those who become infected with hepatitis C will clear the virus on their own, without taking any form of treatment. Of those who become chronic carriers of the virus, close to a third will experience minimal symptoms or may never experience any symptoms of liver damage. Approximately 20% will develop cirrhosis, and 5-10% will develop liver cancer or liver failure. There is treatment available for many people who are living with hepatitis C, and over half of those who take the full course of treatment will get rid of the virus altogether.
On May 19th please take time to remember those who are living with hepatitis C, those whose lives have been lost to the battle, and learn more about this preventable virus. If you wish to get tested locally, you can do so for free at *insert local testing sites*. If you are currently living with the virus and would like support, or if you would like more information about hepatitis C, please contact *insert local support services*.
*******
We welcome submissions to the HCCBC E-Newsletter. Please send articles to:
Deb Schmitz
Executive Director
Hepatitis C Council of BC
deb@bchepcouncil.ca
*******
Our Council website contains resources to further assist people infected with and affected by Hepatitis C.
Please visit us at: http://www.bchepcouncil.ca
Wendy Mackay
Co-chair, HCCBC