Thank you,Any input helps me alot.I have researched each question but I want as much input as I can get before summing it up.Thanks again :)
short answers...hmmm
1. probably because more men experiment with IV drug use, and more men, incarcerated or not, have sexual practices which expose them to one anothers blood. I think the medical risks are spread equally, since both men and women go to surgeries and dentists pretty equally, so the difference is more likely occuring due to exposures in the first 2 groups...also, the battlefield envioronment exposed men to one another's blood, many more men than women are exposed via this modality.
2. The lipid profile is different is overweight people. I wouldn't say it spreads faster...never heard that, but it could be less of them spontaneously clear and less of the SVR because the hcv is more resilient in a fat filled environment, and it enjoys protections from the higher LDL, higher triglyceride profiles that many overweight folks have.
The virons create a raincoat of fat on their shells from these fats...and it help them resist being penetrated and killed by the immune system and/or the treatment drugs. But stickly speaking it doesn't spread "faster"...it just had a better chance of taking up and keeping it's resisdence in the presense of certain lipid profiles. Changing the lipid profile is ergo wisdom, not just for the overweight but for anyone treating. It also will help allieviate inflammation in the non-treating patient since high Omega 3's reduce inflammation whereas omega 6's (most of the american diet) increases inflammation.
Inflammation causes more fibrosis than the viral load itself does.
3. It's been shown to have to do with the genetic profiles of the DNA/RNA which vary slightly from ethnicity to ethnicity. Meaning some groups have increased vunerability and decreased chances of clearance quite apart from any other determinant, such as age weight, other medical conditions.
that's short 4 me...hope it helps.
mb