Why You Should Care about the Hepatitis C Epidemic

By Lili Gevorkian on March 1, 2014

The Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) has turned into a pressing public health issue. With no known vaccine to prevent the disease, HCV is spreading rapidly. Although it is the most common blood-borne viral infection and three times more prevalent than HIV, many are unaware of the devastating impacts of the disease. Hepatitis C often results in severe health complications such as fibrosis, cirrhosis, advanced liver disease or hepatocellular cancer if left untreated. It is the leading indication for liver cancer and liver transplants and the number one cause of death for patients living with HIV.

The estimated number of infected Americans is a whopping 3.2 million with the disease concentrated among the uninsured. According to the Milliman Client Report released last December, approximately half of the chronically infected population of Americans are diagnosed and only 5-6% successfully treated. Due to the progressive nature of the disease, many infected patients do not know they have contracted the disease. Symptoms do not appear for ten or twenty years, making early intervention critical.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends adults born from 1945-1965 be tested for the disease.  The matter is so pressing that New York State passed legislation in 2013 requiring HCV tests be offered to baby boomers when visiting their primary care doctors or receiving hospital care. CDC recommends that other at-risk populations also be screened for the virus.

Although HCV has unmet medical needs, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as well as recent breakthroughs in HCV treatments make this junction more hopeful than ever. Testing covered under the ACA reduces financial strains  and provides more affordable treatment options for diagnosed patients. The newer treatments are more effective and tolerable to sustain over a shorter duration. Interferon-free (IFN-free) regimens also allow for recovery with fewer side effects.

The benefits of treating patients who are in the early stages of the disease is endless. Living with hepatitis C has tremendous emotional, financial, and physical costs. By urging those who are at-risk to get tested, the proportion of diagnosed patients and those on the road to recovery increases and statistically helps medical providers and public health groups better serve people. HCV costs $30 billion dollars in annual medical costs and is expected to triple by 2030 unless a drastic change is seen.

Awareness and education are key to halting the spread of the disease.  Ask your friends and loved ones to get tested if they are part of the Baby Boomer generation or meet any of the criteria below as shared by the CDC.

People at increased risk for Hepatitis C:

- Current injection drug users (currently the most common way Hepatitis C virus is spread in the United States)
- Past injection drug users, including those who injected only one time or many years ago
- Recipients of donated blood, blood products, and organs (once a common means of transmission but now rare in the United – States since blood screening became available in 1992)
- People who received a blood product for clotting problems made before 1987
- Hemodialysis patients or persons who spent many years on dialysis for kidney failure
- People who received body piercing or tattoos done with non-sterile instruments
- People with known exposures to the Hepatitis C virus, such as HIV-infected persons
- Health care workers injured by needlesticks
- Recipients of blood or organs from a donor who tested positive for the Hepatitis C virus
- Children born to mothers infected with the Hepatitis C virus

Less common risks include:

- Having sexual contact with a person who is infected with the Hepatitis C virus
- Sharing personal care items, such as razors or toothbrushes, that may have come in contact with the blood of an infected person

To put it into perspective, of every 100 persons infected with HCV about:

- 85 persons may develop long-term infection (chronic hepatitis C). This means that they carry the virus in their bodies and can pass it on to others, usually for the rest of their lives,
- 70 persons may develop chronic liver disease,
- 15 persons may develop cirrhosis over a period of 20 to 30 years, and
- 5 persons may die from the consequences of long term infection (liver cancer, cirrhosis, or liver failure).

References:
CDC
HCV Advocate
Hep C Connection
Milliman Client Report
SLO Hep C Project
WHO 

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