Health Baby boomers still battle Hep C
by J. Adrian Stanley, csindy.com
May 16th 2011
Confession: I smirked a little when an e-mail entitled "Baby Boomer
Alert: You May Have Hep C & Not Know It" showed up in my inbox.
It's not just that I'm a jerk on Monday mornings. It's that I am a child of
Baby Boomers. And that headline just brought me right back to my teen years,
when my parents were desperately (and futilely) trying to impart the usual
parental wisdom on me.
Here I was, raised by people who glorified their youth of free love, drug
experimentation, loud concerts and hitchhiking. And suddenly, when I was 13,
they were telling me, "Well, sure, it was a blast for me, but I better not
catch you doing it, because, uh ... because ... because ... it's a different
world now!"
I remember how I enjoyed feasting on their delicious hypocrisy when I was
coming of age. Now, of course, it's different. Now I understand how they must
have felt.
And now, too, I understand how much my parents wanted me to dodge all those
ghosts of youth that can come and bite you in the ass decades later. Things
like Hep C, which is often spread through intravenous drug use.
According to the e-mail press release, "More than two-thirds of Americans with
Hep C are baby boomers and 75 percent of those with the disease have not been
screened and diagnosed."
Hep C, by the way, attacks your liver. And, smirking aside, Hep C used to be
spread not only through drug use, but through blood transfusions.
Read on:
BABY BOOMER ALERT: YOU MAY HAVE HEPATITIS C
AND DON’T KNOW IT
Two-Thirds of Infections Occur Among Baby Boomers;
Three-Quarters of All Who Have Disease Haven’t Been Diagnosed.
Colorado Group Launches Campaign for Baby Boomers to Get Screened
(DENVER) — Stressing the need for early diagnosis and treatment, Colorado’s Hep
C Connection is launching a new campaign throughout the state to raise
awareness among Colorado’s baby boomer population about a simple blood
screening that could save thousands of lives in our state alone. More than
two-thirds of Americans with Hep C are baby boomers and 75 percent of those
with the disease have not been screened and diagnosed.
“Our relatives, friends, neighbors and coworkers need to hear the call,” said
Nancy Steinfurth, executive director of Hep C Connection. “Many Colorado baby
boomers are walking around with Hep C and don’t know it. They can avoid
devastating, painful and life-threatening liver disease with a simple blood
test. By the time the symptoms are noticeable, it’s much tougher to treat.”
Hepatitis C is a contagious liver disease prevalent — and widely undiagnosed —
among baby boomers, with experts estimating that that two-thirds of those with
Hep C were born in the baby boom years of 1946 to 1964. Hepatitis C ranges in
severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, lifelong illness
that attacks the liver. It results from infection with the hepatitis C virus
(HCV), which is spread through contact with the blood of an infected person.
A federal strategy released in recent days recommends placing a priority on
screening Americans by age. A new national study showed that screening all
Americans born between 1946 and 1964 could save 48,000 lives.
A listing of free confidential testing sites statewide is available by visiting
the Hep C Connection website at www.hepc-connection.org or by calling
1-800-522-HEPC (4372).
She noted that an important goal of the campaign is to eliminate false and
unfair stigmas associated with Hepatitis C — which often cause men and women to
avoid screening.
“Some people don’t get tested because they believe that the only way to have
contracted Hep C is through intravenous drug use, and that’s just plain false,”
she said. “The truth is that many Americans — including many veterans — who had
transfusions prior to 1992 were infected with Hep C before donated blood was
accurately screened for the disease.”
Steinfurth said an additional reason to raise awareness among the baby boomer
population is that the costs to treat the advanced liver disease that arises
when hepatitis C is not treated early are high, and may include liver
transplantation. Given that the first baby boomers are turning 65 this year,
without changes in the rates of diagnosis and treatment, health insurance and
Medicare costs will double in a decade and increase five-fold in 20 years.
ABOUT HEP C CONNECTION
Hep C Connection, based in Denver, is a statewide organization that educates
the general public about hepatitis C and provides resources and support for
those affected by the virus.
# # #
Original Page:
http://www.csindy.com/IndyBlog/archives/2011/05/16/baby-boomers-still-battle-hep-c%3E
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