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About 3.5 million U.S. adults are chronically infected with hepatitis C (HCV), and 80% of those are baby boomers. As many as 3 out of 4 infected people are not aware of it, according to the CDC, putting them at risk for liver disease, cancer, and death. And most baby boomers aren’t getting tested for the HCV virus.
Between 2013 (when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a recommendation that all people born between 1945 and 1965 be tested) and 2015, the rate of testing among baby boomers rose only from 12.3% to 13.8%. About 10.5 million of the 76.2 million baby boomers have been tested for HCV, say American Cancer Society researchers who analyzed data from the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey.
Half of Americans identified as ever having had HCV received follow-up testing showing they were still infected, suggesting that even among those who receive an initial antibody test, half may not know for sure whether they still carry the virus.
“Hepatitis C has few noticeable symptoms,” says John Ward, MD, director of the CDC’s Viral Hepatitis Program, and left undiagnosed it threatens the health not only of the person with the virus, but those the disease might be transmitted to. Identifying those who are infected is important, he adds, because new treatments can cure the infection and eliminate the risk of transmission.
About 3.5 million U.S. adults are chronically infected with hepatitis C (HCV), and 80% of those are baby boomers. As many as 3 out of 4 infected people are not aware of it, according to the CDC, putting them at risk for liver disease, cancer, and death. And most baby boomers aren’t getting tested for the HCV virus.
Between 2013 (when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a recommendation that all people born between 1945 and 1965 be tested) and 2015, the rate of testing among baby boomers rose only from 12.3% to 13.8%. About 10.5 million of the 76.2 million baby boomers have been tested for HCV, say American Cancer Society researchers who analyzed data from the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey.
Half of Americans identified as ever having had HCV received follow-up testing showing they were still infected, suggesting that even among those who receive an initial antibody test, half may not know for sure whether they still carry the virus.
“Hepatitis C has few noticeable symptoms,” says John Ward, MD, director of the CDC’s Viral Hepatitis Program, and left undiagnosed it threatens the health not only of the person with the virus, but those the disease might be transmitted to. Identifying those who are infected is important, he adds, because new treatments can cure the infection and eliminate the risk of transmission.
About 3.5 million U.S. adults are chronically infected with hepatitis C (HCV), and 80% of those are baby boomers. As many as 3 out of 4 infected people are not aware of it, according to the CDC, putting them at risk for liver disease, cancer, and death. And most baby boomers aren’t getting tested for the HCV virus.
Between 2013 (when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a recommendation that all people born between 1945 and 1965 be tested) and 2015, the rate of testing among baby boomers rose only from 12.3% to 13.8%. About 10.5 million of the 76.2 million baby boomers have been tested for HCV, say American Cancer Society researchers who analyzed data from the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey.
Half of Americans identified as ever having had HCV received follow-up testing showing they were still infected, suggesting that even among those who receive an initial antibody test, half may not know for sure whether they still carry the virus.
“Hepatitis C has few noticeable symptoms,” says John Ward, MD, director of the CDC’s Viral Hepatitis Program, and left undiagnosed it threatens the health not only of the person with the virus, but those the disease might be transmitted to. Identifying those who are infected is important, he adds, because new treatments can cure the infection and eliminate the risk of transmission.