Deaths From Hepatitis C On Rise, Baby Boomers At High Risk (February 21, 2012)

New data shows that deaths from hepatitis C are on the rise and that baby boomers are at highest risk. Hepatitis C is a ticking time bomb that can destroy your liver and require liver replacement costing well over $100,000.

Health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are considering issuing a recommendation that everyone born between 1945 and 1965 should get a Hepatitis C blood test. Recent data has shown that 2/3 of people with hepatitis c are in this age group. They are also generally unaware that the potentially fatal virus is destroying their livers over a period of decades.

Dr. John Ward, hepatitis chief at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that "One of every 33 baby boomers are living with hepatitis C infection. Most people will be surprised, because it's a silent epidemic."

New Drugs Promise Cure For Hepatitis C

The issue has come to the forefront recently since two new drugs introduced last summer promise a cure that was previously not possible. The two new drugs, telaprevir from Vertex Pharmaceuticals and boceprevir from Merck, are changing changing the game, Hepatitis C is now considered a curable disease.

New research concluded that blood testing millions of the middle-aged baby boomers would save thousands of lives. Should I get tested? I never injected illegal drugs and passed the needle around to my friends...but there was that one night in Bankock.

Hepatitis C Is A Silent Epidemic

Hepatitis C is generally thought to be transmitted via blood, semen or other body fluids typically through sexual contact or sharing of needles. However, hepatitis C was commonly spread through blood transfusions prior to 1992 when systematic testing of the blood supply became began.

It is estimated that approximately 3.2 million Americans have the hepatitis C virus with at least half of them being unaware of the infection. The hepatitis C virus causes slow scaring of the liver and can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and the need for a liver transplant.

The most recent CDC study analyzed data from the last ten years and found an increase in mortality from hepatitis C. Specifically, there were 15,000 deaths from hepatitis C in 2007 outpacing the approximately 13,000 deaths related to AIDS in the same year. The data further showed that 3/4 of the deaths were in middle aged baby boomers between the ages of 45 and 64.

Dr Ward concluded that "Mortality will continue to grow for the next 10 to 15 years at least unless we do something different."