Hepatitis News & Features

Although 2016 saw two outbreaks of hepatitis A caused by contaminated food, the main reason for outbreaks has been the living conditions of drug addicts and the homeless.

Almost half of baby boomers in a WebMD reader survey said they haven't been tested for hepatitis C. And as many aren't aware that a cure exists.

Living liver donation carries more risks than a living kidney donation, and it comes with a 0.3% donor risk of death and a 30% risk of complications following an adult-to-adult donation with the larger right liver lobe.

Since June of last year, 214 cases have been reported in Georgia, including 64 last month alone, said Cherie Drenzek, the state epidemiologist, at a Tuesday board meeting of the Georgia Department of Public Health.

The new transplant policy calls for recipients to receive hepatitis C antivirals starting a few hours after leaving the operating room. This strategy could increase the number of potential organs available to patients by 20% to 25%, the lead researcher said.

According to the researchers, this is the first study to show the effectiveness of direct-acting antivirals in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection.

The study suggests that sweeping prevention, screening and treatment efforts could prevent 15.1 million new hepatitis C infections and 1.5 million cirrhosis and liver cancer deaths by 2030.

Since 2002, alcohol-associated liver disease has replaced hepatitis C as the most common reason for U.S. liver transplants.

The CDC has estimated that over 2 million Americans were living with hepatitis C between 2013 and 2016. These latest figures show that about 52 percent of those people were living in nine states: California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Nearly 2.4 million Americans are infected with the hepatitis C virus, the CDC says. Most cases can be traced to injection-drug use among younger adults addicted to heroin and other opioids. Adults under 40 have the highest rate of new infections.

In a recent federal study, only 36 percent of teens and young adults identified with opioid addiction were tested for hepatitis C, the researchers found, missing a chance to treat the deadly infection.

Kidney transplants from organs infected with hepatitis C work as well as those with healthy organs, a finding that could help more people with kidney disease get off dialysis, researchers say.

Women were less likely to have been screened than men. The researchers also found that among baby boomers and Americans born between 1966 and 1985, HCV screening rates were lower among Hispanics and blacks.

The surgeries gave new kidneys to 10 donor recipients -- just a handful of the more than 420,000 Americans who currently struggle with potentially fatal end-stage kidney disease.

A good relationship with your hep C doctor is key. Ask smart questions and be open and honest to get the best care.

Only about half of people in the United States with hepatitis C know they have the curable disease, new data shows.

More fallout from the U.S. opioid epidemic: Wisconsin has seen a near doubling of women on Medicaid who have the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in pregnancy.

When people find out they have the infection, they're more likely to stay off drugs

Declaration allows governor to more swiftly respond as epidemic spreads.

Drug users, the homeless most affected; county has launched vaccination effort

3-drug mixture was nearly 100 percent effective in drug company trials

Many stemmed from rising use of injected drugs linked to the current opioid epidemic, officials say

New study adds to evidence that these conditions might be linked somehow

But not everyone responds completely to the medicines and cost remains a big obstacle, researchers say

Screening rates for the dangerous virus remain low despite recommendations, study finds