|
|
All baby boomers should
get hepatitis C test -CDC
By Deena Beasley, Reuters
May 18, 2012
Image Credit: Reuters
All baby boomers should be tested at least once for
the liver-destroying hepatitis C virus, according to
proposed guidelines from U.S. health officials
released on Friday.
The often-undiagnosed virus is transmitted through
contaminated blood. While infection rates have dropped
dramatically since the early 1990s - due in part to
the introduction of blood and organ screening - many
older adults are still at risk, according to the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which
released the draft guidelines.
According to the CDC, one in 30 baby boomers - the
generation born from 1945 through 1965 - has been
infected with hepatitis C, and most do not know it.
A one-time, cost-effective blood test would "identify
hundreds of thousands of hidden infections," said Dr
John Ward, director of CDC's division of viral
hepatitis.
He likened the proposal to existing age-related
guidelines on screening for diseases including breast
cancer, cervical cancer and high cholesterol.
Hepatitis C causes serious liver diseases, including
liver cancer - the fastest-rising cause of
cancer-related deaths - and is the leading cause of
liver transplants in the United States.
The CDC said it believes routine blood tests will
address the largely preventable consequences of the
disease, especially in light of newly available
therapies that can cure around 75 percent of
infections.
The field has attracted broad interest with two new
hepatitis C drugs - Incivek from Vertex
Pharmaceuticals Inc and Merck & Co's Victrelis -
reaching the U.S. market in the past year.
Companies including Gilead Sciences Inc and
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co aim to improve on those
medicines with pills that do not need to be combined
with injections of immune system boosters, which have
side effects that can deter patients.
More than 15,000 Americans, most of them baby boomers,
die each year from hepatitis C-related illness, such
as cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Current U.S. guidelines call for testing only
individuals with certain known risk factors for
hepatitis C infection.
The CDC said it will accept public comment on the
draft recommendations from May 22 to June 8.
Final recommendations will be issued later this year.
More Information on US Health
Issues
|
|
