CDC urges people born between 1945 and 1965 to screen for hepatitis C

CDC urges people born between 1945 and 1965 to screen for hepatitis C (Alberta Times) Federal health units say that hepatitis C is causing more and more deaths, and...

CDC urges people born between 1945 and 1965 to screen for hepatitis C (Alberta Times) Federal health units say that hepatitis C is causing an increasing number of deaths, and the latest data shows that baby boomers are at the highest risk of contracting hepatitis C. Health units recommend that baby boomers born between 1945 and 1965 get blood tests. Health authorities say that about two-thirds of the patients diagnosed with hepatitis C are baby boomers, and many were infected with the hepatitis C virus decades ago. Most people infected with the virus do not know that the virus is like a time bomb that will damage the liver decades later. "One in 33 baby boomers has been infected with hepatitis C, and most of those infected are asymptomatic. This is a silent killer," said Ward, director of hepatitis prevention at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Many hepatitis C infections are spread by injecting drug users who share needles. However, blood transfusion is also one of the channels for Hepatitis C infection. Before 1992, the testing of blood sources before blood transfusion was not strict, and many people were infected with Hepatitis C due to blood transfusion. An estimated 3.2 million people in the United States have hepatitis C, but half of them do not know they have hepatitis C. People suffering from hepatitis C may develop cirrhosis or develop liver cancer. Many people with cirrhosis or liver cancer eventually require liver transplant surgery. A study released by the CDC on the 20th showed that the death rate from hepatitis C has increased over the past decade. Hepatitis C killed 15,000 people in 2007, higher than previous estimates and exceeding the AIDS death toll of 13,000. Even more surprising is that three-quarters of hepatitis C deaths occur in people aged 45 to 64. According to the CDC's current hepatitis prevention guidelines, the CDC only recommends screening for those at high risk for hepatitis C. However, because pharmaceutical companies launched Telaprevir and boceorevir last summer, which significantly increased the cure rate for hepatitis C to 75%, the CDC was asked to consider revising the current hepatitis prevention guidelines to screen people born between 1945 and 1965 for hepatitis C.