Optimism and eternal vigilance: Gathering disease, responsible subjects and the hope of elimination in the new hepatitis C treatment era

The advent of direct-acting antiviral hepatitis C medications has reshaped experiences of hepatitis C treatment and cure. Positioned as a treatment revolution, the new medications mean a world without hepatitis C has become imaginable, and this optimism is reflected in Australia’s commitment to the World Health Organization’s target of ‘eliminating’ the virus as a public health threat by 2030.

Alongside optimism about new treatments, Australia’s current National Hepatitis C Strategy also emphasises the importance of partnerships with, and the ‘meaningful involvement’ of, priority populations for elimination to be achieved. We draw on Fraser and Seear’s (2011) work on hepatitis C as a ‘gathering’ to examine these developments, and to approach hepatitis C as a disease in-the-making. Analysing 50 interviews conducted with people affected by the virus, we identify three key articulations that combine to trouble the distinction between old and new treatments: (1) the new treatment constitutes the disease as readily curable; (2) nevertheless, those who have been cured are responsibilised against acquiring it again by managing and monitoring their conduct; and (3) in the process, hepatitis C becomes re-constituted as an ongoing threat requiring continual post-cure medical and other monitoring.

Paper Authors: Gemma Nourse (presenting author), Adrian Farrugia, Suzanne Fraser, David Moore (Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society), Carla Treloar (Centre for Social Research in Health, University of New South Wales)

Presenter: Gemma Nourse is a Research Associate at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University. Her PhD was supervised by Professor Suzanne Fraser and Professor David Moore and examined the co-constitution of performance and image-enhancing drugs, health and masculinity in Australia. She has recently begun researching hepatitis C treatment and efforts to address blood-borne virus-related stigma in healthcare.

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