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Baby Boomers: Test for Hepatitis C
May is Hepatitis Awareness Month, and Acting Surgeon General Dr. Boris D. Lushniak has just released a Surgeon General’s Perspective to encourage physicians to test baby boomers for Hepatitis C. Hep C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). It affects the liver and chronic infection can lead to cirrhosis (advanced liver disease), which lead to a loss of liver function (such as detoxification).
There is currently a disproportionate prevalence of HCV infection in the United States among those born between 1945 and 1965. Dr. Lushniak says:
“As a fellow baby boomer, I am very concerned that one in 40 baby boomers—about 2.1 million people—are infected with HCV. African American people are also disproportionately affected by HCV…Now is the time to increase routine HCV testing of baby boomers, to provide prevention counseling to improve liver health, and to link infected people to care and treatment.”
Click here to read the full Surgeon General’s Perspective about Hepatitis C.
If you would like to be screened for Hepatitis C, call your primary care physician or make an appointment with Whittier Street Health Center online.
Other resources for Hepatitis: