May is Hepatitis Awareness Month

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent this bulletin at 05/07/2013 02:09 PM EDT

Viral Hepatitis Updates from CDC May is Hepatitis Awareness Month

Vital Signs – Hepatitis CToday, and in conjunction with Hepatitis Awareness Month, CDC released a new study in Vital Signs on hepatitis C testing and reporting. The report data, pulled from eight hepatitis C surveillance sites across the country, show that only half (51 percent) of those identified with an initial positive hepatitis C antibody test are receiving appropriate follow-up testing to determine if they are still infected. Without a follow-up test, a person will not know if they are currently infected with the hepatitis C virus. 

The results also further underscore the severe impact of hepatitis C among baby boomers (born from 1945 through 1965). Baby boomers accounted for 67 percent of all reported hepatitis C cases and 72 percent of all reported deaths among people with hepatitis C.

•  MMWR: Vital Signs: Evaluation of Hepatitis C Virus Infection Testing and Reporting - Eight U.S. Sites, 2005–2011http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm62e0507a1.htm
  
• MMWR: Fact sheet: Hepatitis C: Testing Baby Boomers Saves Lives
  http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/hepatitisc/

MMWR: Testing for HCV infection: An update of guidance for clinicians and laboratorians. 
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm62e0507a2.htm

• Recommended Testing Sequence for Identifying Current Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Infectionhttp://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/HCV/PDFs/hcv_flow.pdf 
• Interpretation of Results of Tests for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Infection and Further Actionshttp://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/HCV/PDFs/hcv_graph.pdf