Hepatitis C, or HCV, is now causing more deaths in the United States than HIV/AIDS, as reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the 62nd annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease. Due to the already-high number of baby boomers who die from HCV, the CDC is on the cusp of officially recommending one-time HCV testing for this age group.
What Is Hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is a viral infection of the liver that can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer and death. The CDC explains that HCV is the most common chronic bloodborne infection in America, with 3.2 million people having a chronic form of the disease. It's the leading cause of the need for a liver transplant.
Symptoms of acute hepatitis C are the same as for other forms of hepatitis: Symptoms will likely be slow in onset and could include anorexia, abdominal discomfort or nausea, vomiting and will be accompanied by jaundice and/or dark urine. The health care provider will need to do blood testing to ascertain if hepatitis is present and determine the type of liver infection.
How is Hepatitis C Transmitted?
Most often, HCV is transmitted through repeated skin punctures with exposure to infectious blood, such as through intravenous drug use, being a recipient of blood products or organs prior to 1992, needle sticks to health care workers, or birth to an HCV-positive mother.
Less efficient transmission is through sexual contact with an infected person or coming into contact with personal items of an infected person that may be contaminated with blood such as razors and toothbrushes.
Who Is Most at Risk for HCV Infection?
The CDC reports that baby boomers, people born between 1945 to 1965, have the highest incidence rates for HCV infection. Likely infected during the 1970s and 1980s, many people with the disease have not yet been diagnosed. It is for this reason that the agency is set to recommend one-time HCV blood screenings for all people born in that time span -- not only so those yet undiagnosed can seek treatment, but also to prevent the inadvertent spread of HCV to others.
Other groups of people at higher risk of becoming infected with hepatitis C include people infected with HIV; current or former intravenous drug users, even it was a one-time occurrence; health care professionals; long-term dialysis patients; and those who received blood products or organs before 1992.
Bottom Line
There is currently no vaccine to protect people from becoming infected with HCV; the best way to protect those around you is to get tested for the virus. If you have it, you can take the precautions needed to protect others from becoming infected.
Getting tested for HCV also allows you to choose treatment options should you have the infection, but not have known it.
Smack dab in the middle of the baby boomer generation, L.L. Woodard is a proud resident of "The Red Man" state. With what he hopes is an everyman's view of life's concerns both in his state and throughout the nation, Woodard presents facts and opinions based on common-sense solutions.
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