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'Baby boomers' should be tested for the Hepatitis C virus, CDC says
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
August 17th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
August 17th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
"Everyone age 47 to 67 who hasn't already been tested for hepatitis C
should be tested once," Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention said in a telephone press briefing. "The
sooner you know the more you can protect your liver and your life." It's
being recommended that all baby boomers be tested for the virus, as
more than two million Americans could be infected and not be aware of
it.
Studies have proven that many baby boomers were infected many years ago, before routine screening of donated blood and organs, or from the increased awareness of the risk from sharing intravenous needles.
The agency estimates that around 3.2 million Americans are chronically infected with hepatitis C.
"Hepatitis C is particularly dangerous because it is a silent killer. It can live for decades in a person's body, slowly destroying the liver, while causing few symptoms," Dr. John Ward, director of the CDC's division of viral hepatitis says.
These new guidelines are expected to identify more than 800,000 infections, prevent 100,000 cases of cirrhosis, prevent more than 50,000 cases of liver cancer, and save more than 120,000 lives. The condition is the primary cause of liver transplants in the United States.
Ward says that the relatively inexpensive blood test is "a small investment now for a big benefit later."
It's hoped that the 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.
Two new hepatitis C drugs, Incivek from Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc and Merck & Co's Victrelis, have reached the U.S. market in the past year.
Companies including Gilead Sciences Inc. aim to improve on those medicines with pill-only regimens. A program at Bristol-Myers Squibb suffered a setback earlier this month when a key trial was stopped after a patient developed heart failure.
Citing safety concerns, U.S. regulators on Thursday put a hold on testing of an experimental hepatitis C drug being developed by Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc.
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