Hi Lloyd,

I think you might find this article on HCV sexual transmission interesting.

By the way I'm feeling great.  I have regained the quality of life that I had before I got sick.   It took me about two years to really get back on my feet.

As soon as I started your program I felt better but it took me about a year before I really started to feel normal and at about six months more until I felt like I had beat the disease. Now at a little more than two years I keep feeling better.

I'm not on the full program anymore. I use TLM 5x a week and Frozen Thymus 2x and CF Solution ounce or twice a week. I still take ArtiChol Pro, Alfalfa Tablets, Aloe Vera Juice, Calcium, Coenzyme Q10, Dandelion Root tea, Eurocel, Lipoic Acid Capsules, Licorice Root Capsules, Milk Thistle Capsules, Milk Thistle tea, Moducare, Olive Leaf Capsules, Pure Synergy, Selenium, Thymus Capsules, Vitamin B complex, Vitamin C ASPA SCORB, Reishi Mushroom Capsules, Fish Oil, Raw Egg and a probiotic.

My diet is still organic 85 to 90% raw with a lot of vegetable juicing.  I do eat free-range antibiotic free chicken a couple times a week but no red meat.  I continue to study the disease and refine my lifestyle to improve my immune system and pamper my liver. I still have not had recent blood work done when I do I'll keep you informed.

Thanks for all your guidance, your program worked really well for me and your advice was a lifesaver during my recovery.  I really feel lucky that I found your book that lead me to your web site that lead me to make the phone call to you.  When we first talked I was being pressured and intimidated by my doctor and pushed by my concerned parents to start interferon and ribavirin treatment immediately. I was unaware how the underhanded medical system worked. I really needed to talk to someone who had been there before. I got the straight answers from you and I literally believe that phone call saved my life.

I really like the lifestyle I live now it takes a lot of discipline but I enjoy the challenge.  I believe almost anyone can do what I have done if they get serious and don't give up for a couple years.   It's like you said, it takes time, it takes work, it takes money but nothing really valuable is ever easy to obtain.

Take care,
B.

No sexual transmission of HCV
seen in repeat HIV testers in San Francisco

No cases of sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus were found in a three year San Francisco study published in the January 2004 edition of Sexually Transmitted Diseases.  The study, conducted amongst repeat HIV testers, the overwhelming majority of whom were gay men, also failed to find any association between unprotected anal sex and new hepatitis C infections.

These findings stand in contrast to a recent observational study conducted in the UK that found that unprotected anal sex was the sole common risk factor for hepatitis C transmission amongst HIV-positive gay men (see link to this and other recent news stories on the sexual transmission of hepatitis C below).

Investigators from San Francisco conducted a retrospective study involving 981 repeat HIV testers between 1997 and 2000.   The investigators aimed to establish the prevalence of hepatitis C infection amongst this population and the incidence of new hepatitis C infections.

The overwhelming majority of individuals included in the analysis were gay men (754 people, 77%), 135 (1%) were women and 92 (15%) were heterosexual men.

A total of 576.6 person years of observation were contributed by the 703 individuals who had blood samples for both HIV tests. There were no new cases of hepatitis C detected giving a hepatitis C incidence of zero.

However, six new cases of herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) and ten new HIV infections occurred (incidence rates 2.8 per 100 person years and 1.8 per 100 person years respectively).

The hepatitis C prevalence was 2.5%, and was highest in heterosexual men (4.3%), followed by heterosexual women (3.7%). The prevalence in gay men was 2.1%. Univariate analysis showed that individuals with a history of injecting drug use were over 33 times more likely to be infected with hepatitis C than individuals with no history of injecting drugs.

Gay men over 50 years of age were more likely to be infected with hepatitis C than gay men aged under 30 (odds ratio 6.6; 95% CI, 1.2 - 44.0).  HIV-positive gay men were also more likely to be hepatitis  C-positive than gay men who were not infected with HIV (odds ratio 5.4; 95% CI, 1.2 - 19.1).

No statistically significant association was found between recent sexual risk behaviour, including either insertive or receptive unprotected anal sex and hepatitis C infection. However, an association was found with increasing age (p=0.01), but not for the number of lifetime sexual partners (p=0.35).

In multivariate analysis, age 50 or above (odds ratio 8.5;\ 95% CI, 2.6 ?27.7), HIV infection (odds ratio, 5.7; 95% CI, 1.6 - 20.6) remained associated with hepatitis C infection.

"Despite having more than 575 person-years of observation in this sexually active sample and documented new sexually transmitted viral infections like HSV-2 and HIV, no cases of HCV antibody seroconversion were detected? note the investigators. They add, "In addition, no correlation was found between HCV antibody prevalence and recent sexual behaviors such as number of sexual partners in the past year or unprotected insertive or receptive anal sex.  HCV is inefficiently spread through sexual contact." They conclude that hepatitis C prevention efforts should focus on injecting drug users, "as the sexual transmission of hepatitis C continues to appear uncommon."