Texas health officials estimate that Tarrant County could have thousands of people living with untreated hepatitis C virus.
CDC
JPS Health Network has received a $7.5 million federal grant to tackle hepatitis C in Fort Worth.
The public hospital system is building a program to screen and test hundreds of patients for the viral disease, which frequently hides for years before showing symptoms.
“It’s often a silent disease,” said Dr. Tricia Elliott, the senior vice president of academic and research affairs and chief academic officer of JPS Health Network. “Oftentimes we don’t know that someone has hepatitis C until much later, when there are serious complications that can occur.”
The new program aims to identify and treat hepatitis C before complications develop. The hepatitis C virus is a bloodborne infection that is usually spread by sharing needles, syringes or other drug use equipment, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. If left untreated, hepatitis C can cause liver disease or liver cancer.
Carl Schmid, the executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute in Washington, applauded the federal grant program, which distributed $98 million in total to health systems throughout the country.
“There’s still too many people who don’t know they have hepatitis C, and too many people that do have it, don’t have access to the cure,” Schmid said.
The grant period lasts three years. During that time, JPS aims to serve 533 patients.
As part of the program, JPS will focus on serving those who are most at risk of contracting hepatitis C, who also happen to be the patients who might have trouble accessing regular health care. The virus is more prevalent among homeless people, people who use drugs, and people in jails or prisons than in the general population.
The grant will pay for 16 new employees who will help with screening patients and treating those who test positive, Elliott said.
JPS is modeling its program after a similar approach it used for opioid use disorder treatment, and will have several “hubs” of testing and treatment throughout the JPS system: the emergency department, urgent care and the True Worth Clinic, which serves many homeless patients. Other locations throughout JPS will be “spokes” and will also provide testing, treatment and referrals to the hubs if someone tests positive, Elliott said.
There is a cure for hepatitis C, but it remains out of reach for many because they don’t know they have the disease until it’s too late. The treatment course, of a medication called direct acting antivirals, typically takes between eight and 12 weeks, Elliott said.
In 2023, JPS identified 1,571 patients with hepatitis C, the majority of them diagnosed through non-targeted screens during emergency room visits, according to JPS’s grant application.
But the state health department estimates that there is a hepatitis C incidence rate of 289 per 100,000 in Tarrant County, meaning there could be as many as 6,300 people seen in the emergency room annually living with untreated hepatitis C, according to JPS.
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Ciara McCarthy covers health and wellness as part of the Star-Telegram’s Crossroads Lab. She came to Fort Worth after three years in Victoria, Texas, where she worked at the Victoria Advocate. Ciara is focused on equipping people and communities with information they need to make decisions about their lives and well-being. Please reach out with your questions about public health or the health care system. Email cmccarthy@star-telegram.com or call or text 817-203-4391.