HEPATITIS C: A BLOOD EMERGENCY
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	HEPATITIS C INFECTS MILLIONS OF AMERICANS THROUGH BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS. IT CAN BE TREATED WHEN FOUND BY BLOOD TESTING.	TO HOME PAGE
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The Hepatitis C (HCV) virus , the nation's most common Blood-borne infection, is a major cause of liver damage. HCV is spread primarily through contact with infected Blood. It is responsible for 8,000 to 10,000 deaths in the United States annually. Many people have the disease long before it is detected.

Hepatitis affects some 4 million Americans in its chronic form. HCV is one of five currently identified hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E, all of which can attack and damage the liver. HCV, one of the most serious of the five, can cause cirrhosis (irreversible and potentially fatal liver scarring), liver cancer, and liver failure. Hepatitis C is the major reason for liver transplants in the United States.

Individuals at high-risk for acquiring hepatitis C include those who:

	Received Blood transfusions before June, 1992, when sensitive tests for anti-HCV were introduced for Blood screening.
	Received a solid-organ transplant (heart, liver, kidney) donated by a person whose Blood contained the HCV infection.
	Have frequent exposure to Blood products. These include patients with hemophilia, chronic renal failure, or cancer requiring chemotherapy.
	Are health care workers who have sustained needle-stick accidents.
	Are injection drug users, including those who briefly used drugs years ago.
	Were born to HCV-infected mothers.

One particularly high risk group is veterans. There is an extensive treatment article from the Veterans Administration HERE. "Eight percent to ten percent of veterans tested positive for the disease in a survey of 26,000, making the potentially deadly illness four to five times more prevalent among veterans than the rest of the population." - Veterans Health Administration Advisory Bulletin 04/05/1999 [view article HERE]
EDITORS NOTE: The above linked page has been revised by VA/VFW, without notation, and moved to an unknown URL. Linked above is an image of the page, courtesy GOOGLE

Another very high risk group is mothers who received an Rh-factor Blood transfusion often given around the time of childbirth or who received a Blood transfusion during a C-section. [view article HERE]

The United States Public Health Service has begun a "look-back" program designed to identify chronic carriers of HCV so that they can receive treatment and counseling. The plan includes a direct notification outreach to people who received a Blood transfusion from a donor, mostly before 1992, who later tested positive for HCV, along with an education effort directed at those who are at risk for hepatitis C

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   last updated 11/10/2004   bloodbook.com