PERCENT HEPATITIS C INFECTIONS BY AGE AND SEX
Digital Press Kit
Expanded Hepatitis C Testing Recommendations
To identify more hidden infections, provide prompt and appropriate care and treatment, and avoid tens of thousands of hepatitis C-related illnesses and deaths, CDC now recommends that all U.S. baby boomers get a one-time test for the hepatitis C virus.
More than 15,000 Americans, most of them baby boomers, die each year from hepatitis C-related illness, such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, and deaths have been increasing steadily for more than a decade and are projected to grow significantly in coming years.
CDC estimates one-time hepatitis C testing of baby boomers could identify more than 800,000 additional people with the virus. And with newly available therapies that can cure up to 75 percent of infections, expanded testing – along with linkage to appropriate care and treatment – would prevent the costly consequences of liver cancer and other chronic liver diseases and could save more than 120,000 lives.