Hepatitis C Myth Busters - Who Should Get Tested?

Saturday, May 28, 2016
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May is Hepatitis C Awareness Month

Doctors are trying to encourage baby boomers, people born between 1945 and 1965 to get a one time blood test to determine if they have the disease.

Doctors say baby boomers are most at risk.

Dr. Anurag Maheshwari, a liver specialist with Mercy Medical System believes contaminate needles in medial procedures conducted years before is a possible cause of the disease. Maheshwari said about a third of his patients don't know how they got the disease.

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Of Interest

April 2016

Dear Baby Boomers: Hep C Isn’t Your Fault, According to New Study
A new report indicates the hepatitis C (HCV) epidemic peaked between 1940 and 1965 with reused medical syringes to blame, not injection drug use or high risk sexual practices among baby boomers, as has often been claimed.

Researchers and advocates alike hope this new information will help dispel some of the stigma attached to having hep C — particularly for older adults — and encourage more people to get tested and connected with potentially life-saving treatment. The research is further proof that anyone born between 1945 and 1964 should be tested for HCV, even if they feel like they've never been at risk. Published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, the research shows that the hepatitis C epidemic can be traced to hospital transmissions caused by the practice of reusing needles in medical settings.

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Study Summary
Hepatitis C virus transmission peaked in 1950
The study shifted the epicenter of spread back by more than 15 years, to about 1950, when medical procedures were expanding after World War II at the same time that clinicians continued to reuse metal and glass syringes, said Dr. Jeffrey Joy of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, and his associates

Exponential HCV transmission had mostly ended by 1965, negating “the idea that the epidemic among baby boomers and other demographic groups in North America is primarily due to injection drug use, unsafe tattooing, high-risk sex, and travel to high endemic areas during youth,” the researchers added.
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New research says hep C epidemic not caused by 1960s sex and drug lifestyle
Peak of hep C infection epidemic actually occurred in 1950, not 1965 as previously thought
A new study, worked on by B.C. researchers, says baby boomers living a sex and drug lifestyle in the 1960s aren't to blame for hepatitis C infections in their demographic.
In fact, the research suggests all baby boomers should be tested for the hep C virus because widespread hospital practices predating the 1950's likely led to many accidental transmissions.
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In The News
Governments on Track to Eliminate Viral Hepatitis by 2030
LONDON, May 30, 2016
The Strategy sets a goal of eliminating hepatitis B and C by 2030 and includes a set of prevention and treatment targets which, if reached, will reduce annual deaths by 65% and increase treatment to 80%, saving 7.1 million lives globally by 2030.
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Australia a potential world leader to eliminate hepatitis C

“Australia is in a unique and privileged position to lead the world on hepatitis C elimination – we can stop the deaths and we can stop transmission.”
Burnet Institute recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The Kirby Institute to work together to eliminate hepatitis C in Australia within a decade.
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Top hepatitis stories for Hepatitis Awareness Month
May 30, 2016
As Hepatitis Awareness Month comes to an end, Healio.com/Hepatology and HCV Next have compiled a list of the latest, most relevant research on hepatitis B and C virus infections published on Healio.com in May.
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