It's Liver Awareness Month, So What Do You Know About A Disease That Infects Over 3 Million Americans?

Here Are 10 Interesting Facts About A Disease That Greatly Affects The Liver – Hepatitis C

•Hepatitis C (HCV) is a virus that infects the liver and can cause long-term damage or inflammation called cirrhosis or death

•The leading cause of liver transplants and liver cancer in the U.S., HCV has disproportionately affected baby boomers who are nearly 5 times as likely to have the disease

•HCV is now on the rise among young people, with recent data showing a 364% increase of HCV in people under age 30 in four states over recent years, primarily because of the heroin epidemic

•In the U.S., 3-4 million people are estimated to be living with HCV but nearly 75% of those don't know they have it

•A "silent" disease, HCV can live in the body for decades without causing a person any symptoms, making screening patients with risk factors crucial

•Primarily spread through blood to blood contact, HCV is nearly 5-10 times more infectious than HIV with more people now dying from HCV than HIV every year

•Any baby boomer (someone born between 1945 and 1965) should be tested

•Anyone who has ever had a blood or organ transplant before 1992 should be tested

•Anyone who injects drugs or shares needles should be tested

•The good news – it's curable! New medications have increased cure rates close to 95% with very minimal side effects

Dr. Navin Vij is an Internal Medicine physician and a member of the American Liver Foundation's National Patient Advisory Committee.

http://hepc.liverfoundation.org