Hepatitis News

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.

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

Newer Hepatitis C Drugs May Pose Health Risks

Hepatitis A Outbreak Linked to Frozen Strawberries

Egyptian Strawberries Tied to Hepatitis A Outbreak

And researchers say alcohol can worsen the chronic liver condition

CDC notes that nearly 20,000 Americans died in 2014 from the widespread, but treatable, illness

Inexpensive antivirals could be a game-changer in many countries, researchers say