CDC Announces Hepatitis Test Day for Baby Boomers

Announced in May, the Center for Disease Control has issued draft guidelines proposing that all U.S. baby boomers get a one-time test for hepatitis C. The announcement says that one in thirty baby boomers, the generation born from 1945 through 1965 are infected with hepatitis C and most don’t know it. Hepatitis C causes serious liver diseases including liver cancer, which is the fastest-rising cause of cancer-related deaths, and the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States. CDC believes this approach will address the largely preventable consequences of this disease, especially in light of newly available therapies that can cure up to 75 percent of infections. Seventy five percent of Americans with hepatitis C, more than 2 million, are baby boomers and do not know they have the virus. More than 15,000 Americans die each year, most of them baby boomers, from hepatitis C related illness like cirrhosis and liver cancer. These deaths have been increasing steadily for over a decade and are projected to grow significantly in coming years. Testing for hepatitis C is done by means of a simple blood test that can be organized by your doctor. The good news is that with a carefully managed program of treatment many who are infected with hepatitis C can live a normal life. However, diagnosis is not only necessary but could be a matter of life or death. Many of Doctor Sandra Cabot’s patients have been treated for hepatitis C with very good results.