Recently, I attended a luncheon where a woman spoke about hepatitis C, also known as HCV. She was about my age and had no reason to think she might have been infected. Yet she had carried the virus for years without knowing it, and by the time it was discovered, her liver had suffered serious damage.
I have to admit that, for a long time, I knew very little about hepatitis C. I had heard of hepatitis, and I thought it mostly affected people who used drugs or had other lifestyle risk factors. That is not always true. Hepatitis C can affect people who do not think of themselves as being at risk, especially if they were exposed to infected blood many years ago.
Baby Boomers, generally those born between 1945 and 1965, were once considered a particularly important group to test for hepatitis C because infection rates were higher in that generation than in other age groups. But today, the recommendation is broader: the CDC advises that all adults age 18 and older get tested at least once in their lives, and that pregnant people be tested during each pregnancy, except in communities where hepatitis C is very rare.
Early detection is especially important because hepatitis C often progresses silently. Many people feel completely well for decades while the virus slowly damages the liver. By the time symptoms such as fatigue, abdominal swelling, or jaundice appear, significant and sometimes irreversible liver disease may already be present. Identifying the infection early allows treatment to begin before serious damage occurs, greatly reducing the risk of cirrhosis, liver cancer, and the need for a transplant. It also prevents unknowingly passing the virus to others through blood exposure. In short, early testing turns hepatitis C from a hidden, long-term threat into a highly treatable condition with an excellent outlook.
There is often a stigma attached to hepatitis C that can keep people from getting tested. Some assume that only people who have used illegal drugs, had unsafe medical procedures, or engaged in risky behaviors can get the virus. Those exposures can increase risk, but they are not the whole story. Hepatitis C is spread through contact with infected blood, and many people were exposed years ago before blood screening and modern infection-control practices were what they are today.
Hepatitis C was identified in 1989, and treatment has improved dramatically since then. Today, the infection is usually treated with oral antiviral medication, and more than 95% of people can be cured. Treatment is far easier, shorter, and better tolerated than it was in the past.
That is why testing matters so much. Hepatitis C often causes no symptoms for years, but untreated infection can lead to cirrhosis, liver failure, or liver cancer. The good news is that hepatitis C is now curable in most cases — but only if it is found.
In addition to the universal CDC recommendation for adults, testing is especially important for people with a history of injection drug use, people with HIV, recipients of blood transfusions or organ transplants before July 1992, anyone who received clotting factor concentrates made before 1987, people on long-term hemodialysis, children born to mothers with hepatitis C, and health care or public safety workers after a needle-stick exposure.
The CDC notes that hepatitis C remains a major public-health issue. New infections still occur, and many are linked to injection drug use and shared needles. That makes prevention, testing, and treatment especially important.
For more information about hepatitis C, the North Shore Health Project in Gloucester offers testing, education, and support for people affected by the virus. For more information, call 978-283-0101 or visit www.healthproject.org.