Five Quarts_ A Personal and Natural History of Blood - Bill Hayes [66]
We’d hardly settled into our seats when the deputy approached and told a few of us that the first portion of the hearing would be closed to the public. As quickly as we’d entered, we were headed back out into the hallway. The deputy was very pleasant and said he’d notify us when we could return. The courtroom door shut. I was surprised by how few people had been inside—twelve at most, including the officers of the court. I’d expected many more, given the media attention that had swirled around this case three years earlier. Where were all the reporters? The TV cameras? In fact, we now waited with just one other person, the older gentleman I’d spotted before. “You must be here for the Elaine Giorgi case,” I said.
“Yes,” he answered, “I’m one of her victims.”
Jerry Orcoff was a big man, about six feet tall, with a bristly white beard and glasses. He looked like the kind of guy who’d give you a good deal at a flea market. As strangers in the same boat, we naturally began to share our stories. Four years ago, Jerry said, he was diagnosed with hepatitis C. At the time, he’d had no idea how he could have contracted this viral infection that’s most common among IV drug users—which he’d certainly never been. Then came the letter from SmithKline Beecham. Jerry realized that the dates matched up—he’d first fallen sick with the characteristic flu-like symptoms shortly after he’d had his blood drawn, one time only, for some routine medical tests. He’d gone to the Palo Alto branch of the lab. He was certain Elaine Giorgi had been his phlebotomist.
Jerry was a retired mechanical engineer, seventy years old, married, and the father of two grown children. Sure, he’d expected to slow down a bit as he grew older, but he never—Jerry couldn’t finish the sentence. He just gave me a look like his dog had died, then shook his head.
Viral hepatitis, as I knew, has six different strains, all represented with letters. A, B, and C are the most prevalent. Hepatitis A is spread through water or food contaminated with fecal matter (every school year seems to come with a news story about kids who’ve been exposed through improperly washed fruit; frozen strawberries are a common culprit). Hepatitis B, like HIV, is most often transmitted through unprotected sex. By contrast, the hepatitis C virus—HCV for short—is exclusively blood-borne and spread primarily through shared dirty needles; less frequently through accidental needle sticks in health care settings and from mother to newborn during childbirth; and, in a small number of well-publicized cases, through shared or unsterilized tattooing equipment. Whatever its initial cause or strain, viral hepatitis can destroy the liver’s ability to perform life-preserving functions, including filtering toxins from the bloodstream and converting blood sugar into usable energy. The most visible sign of advanced disease is jaundice. This yellowing of the skin and eyes indicates that the liver is failing to clear the blood of what are called bile pigments, the yellow-colored by-products of dead red cells. Vaccines now exist to prevent hepatitis A and B, but not C.
HCV, the most common chronic viral infection in the United States, has been labeled “the silent epidemic.” It’s difficult to treat, has no definite cure, and in most cases lingers for years without expressing symptoms. In fact, the virus’s progression can be so slow that an infected person is more likely to die of other causes. But in 15 to 20 percent of cases it quickly brings on cirrhosis, liver cancer, or related illnesses. HCV is the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States.
Jerry, who’s still in a relatively early stage of chronic HCV,