Baby Boomers and Hepatitis C

[Amati]

CDC to baby boomers: Get tested for hepatitis C (StarBulletin)

All baby boomers should get a one-time blood test to learn if they have the liver-destroying hepatitis C virus, U.S. health officials said today.It can take decades for the blood-borne virus to cause liver damage and symptoms to emerge, so many people don't know they're harboring it. Baby boomers account for about two-thirds of the estimated 3.2 million infected Americans.

It's possible some people were infected in ways other than dirty needles or long-ago blood transfusions. Some experts say tattoos, piercings, shared razor blades and toothbrushes, manicures and sniffed cocaine may have caused the virus to spread in some cases. However it happened, health officials say baby boomers are five times more likely to be infected than other adults.

Good grief, what next for boomers to worry about? And if there are all these older adults with undiagnosed Hep C, what about their children, who have grown up in a household with Hep C, without the forewarning of taking precautions.

[lensperson]

Re: Baby Boomers and Hepatitis C

This report is just sheer fearmongering unless one was using drugs
with needles or having sex with infected individuals.

The test labs stand to make a great deal of money by creating fear
amongst those who have something hidden in their past behavior.

Caveat Emptor.

[Kaonohi]

Re: Baby Boomers and Hepatitis C

CDC to baby boomers: Get tested for hepatitis C (StarBulletin)





Good grief, what next for boomers to worry about? And if there are all these older adults with undiagnosed Hep C, what about their children, who have grown up in a household with Hep C, without the forewarning of taking precautions.

OMG! My PCP just told me I have liver readings that are out of the normal range. I guess I better get tested!

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Baby Boomers and Hepatitis C

OMG! My PCP just told me I have liver readings that are out of the normal range. I guess I better get tested!

It may not be HepC, but you could suffer liver damage from excessive use of acetaminophen (Tylenol, e.g.), or from statins (cholesterol-lowing drugs); if you regularly use either of these meds, your PCP should want to monitor your liver numbers regularly - as it appears they are doing. But yes, get the HepC test.

[matapule]

Re: Baby Boomers and Hepatitis C

from statins (cholesterol-lowing drugs); if you regularly use either of these meds, your PCP should want to monitor your liver numbers regularly.

I take statins and consequently have blood test every 6 months. Everything is normal, praise Maui.

[lensperson]

Re: Baby Boomers and Hepatitis C

The over usage of tylenol causes thousands of deaths per year.
Acetaminophen is very toxic to the liver when combined with alcohol.

Many over the counter meds contain this vile substance.

Read the fine print and stop consuming poison..

[Amati]

Re: Baby Boomers and Hepatitis C

CDC to baby boomers: Get tested for hepatitis C (StarBulletin)

Sorry, it is StarAdvertiser, and that first link is no longer working. But this one might be OK.

[salmoned]

Re: Baby Boomers and Hepatitis C

This report is just sheer fear mongering unless one was using drugs with needles or having sex with infected individuals.

The test labs stand to make a great deal of money by creating fear amongst those who have something hidden in their past behavior.

Caveat Emptor.

Not quite. There are other viable means of infection - early plasma donation, to name one.