With Hepatitis C Rates High, Health Professionals Urge Diagnosis, Treatment

  ​Hep C cure has doctors concerns focused on fatty livers       By Doreen Gentzler and Christina Romano

Hepatitis C rates in the United States soared to a 15-year high, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week, but while the virus kills more Americans than any other infections disease reported to the CDC, now there’s a cure. Doreen Gentzler reports.
(Published Thursday, May 18, 2017)Hepatitis C rates in the United States soared to a 15-year high, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week, but while the virus kills more Americans than any other infections disease reported to the CDC, now there’s a cure.
Hepatitis C was officially discovered and named in 1989. Up to 3.5 million Americans live with hepatitis C, and the majority of them are baby boomers. Because it is often asymptomatic, the only way to diagnose it is through a blood test.
Getty Images“In general, it's a silent killer because you don't really know you have it,” hepatitis C patient Duncan MacInnes.
The virus can eventually lead to severe liver damage, cancer or cirrhosis, and death.
It is transmitted by blood -- transfusions or sharing dirty needles are two common ways to get it.
MacInnes believes he got it while working overseas for the State Department. He said a doctor used a dirty needle. A routine blood test showed something was wrong.
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Source: With Hepatitis C Rates High, Health Professionals Urge Diagnosis, Treatment | NBC4 Washington http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/health/With-Hepatitis-C-Rates-High-Health-Professionals-Urge-Diagnosis-422592424.html#ixzz4htkPz3If