The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a warning that all U.S. baby boomers — the generation born from1945 to 1965 — should be tested for the hepatitis C virus. One in 30 boomers has been infected with the virus, “and most don’t know it,” the CDC said.
According to studies, the CDC said, “Many baby boomers were infected with the virus decades ago” and “deaths have been increasing steadily” for more than a dozen years.
Three out of four of those infected, according to the CDC, are people with chronic hepatitis C. This is twice as common among African-Americans as whites. Mortality is highest among the more elderly members of this generation.
Hepatitis C causes serious liver diseases, including liver cancer. Cancer in the liver is the fastest rising cause of cancer-related deaths. It also is the leading reason for liver transplants in the United States.
The recommendations were published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Report. More than 15,000 Americans, mainly baby boomers die every year from hepatitis C related illnesses. These include cirrhosis and liver cancer.
CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., said, “The new recommendations can protect the health of an entire generation of Americans and can save thousands of lives.”
In the past, the CDC had recommended testing only those individuals who had certain known risk factors for hepatitis C infection. Now that more than 2 million American baby boomers are infected with hepatitis C, that accounts for more than 75 percent of all American adults who are living with the virus.
“Risk-based screening will continue to be important,” the CDC said. “But it is not sufficient alone.”
Dr. Frieden said, “A one-time blood test for hepatitis C should be on every baby boomer’s medical checklist.”
The CDC concluded that one-time testing of baby boomers for hepatitis C could identify more than 800,000 additional boomers infected with hepatitis C. The virus is the most common chronic blood-borne infection in the country.
But why baby boomers?
Many were infected in their teens or their 20s, the CDC said. Many had experimented with drugs and injections that they didn’t know had contained the virus. Others have been recipients of blood donations or organ transplants. A minority have HIV.
Some are children of mothers with hepatitis C. About 20 percent of those infected “will progress to cirrhosis 20 years after exposure. Of those not getting treatment approximately
one million will die,” the CDC warned.
Some more cheerful news is that up to 75 percent of the infected could be cured with available new therapies. Antiviral agents have been developed, and new medications are under development.
CDC advice is to see your primary physician or an infectious disease specialist promptly.
Tait Trussell is an old guy and fourth-generation professional journalist who writes extensively about aging issues among a myriad of diverse topics.