Hepatitis C Threat To Baby Boomers

[corgifan]

The CDC has released an alert that all people born between 1945 and 1965 get tested for Hepatitis C as soon as possible:

http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/news/20120816/cdc-all-baby-boomers-get-tested-hep-c

They estimate that 1 in 30 boomers are carrying the disease. I do not like those odds. It can lay dormant for extreme amounts of time before it slowly starts destroying your liver.

Bring on the anti-government naysayers, I'm making my appointment tomorrow.

[CenTexDave]

Are we covered under ObamaCare?

[Ludwig]

Thanks be to God I was born before 1945 and thus am not a Boomer. I'm going to die of something withing the next 3 or 4 decades. If I find out I have Hep C I will have to change my habits. I'd rather not know and enjoy what life I have left. I have seen a lot of Hep C and burried two good friends who died from it. In all cases it was brought on by shared needles. This is not to discourage anyone from taking the test.

[Mestral]

. . . brought on by shared needles. This is not to discourage anyone from taking the test.It can be transferred by several means. Needles and sex are the most prevalent (likely to account for the vast majority of cases), but it has also been known to transfer through a number of innocuous means, such as beauty salon and barber tools. I would say if you haven't engaged in any risky activity in the past 15 years, you are probably safe. But then, most of us wear seat belts when we drive.

[Grammar Rules]

My friend's dad was a Nam vet who got it from blood transfusions back before they screened for it. People may not get symptoms for decades. It is transmissible within family members also, although not as easily as the flu, since it requires contact with bodily fluids.

[Mestral]

My friend's dad was a Nam vet who got it from blood transfusions back before they screened for it. People may not get symptoms for decades. It is transmissible within family members also, although not as easily as the flu, since it requires contact with bodily fluids.Makes sense they wouldn't have screened for Hep C in Nam. They didn't realized there was a third type of Hep until about 1980. I remeber reading about NonA-NonB Hepatitis in the mid 80's, in the same articles discussing a mysterious immune disorder that we now know as aids. Did they screen for Hep A or Hep B in Nam?

[Grammar Rules]

Makes sense they wouldn't have screened for Hep C in Nam. They didn't realized there was a third type of Hep until about 1980. I remeber reading about NonA-NonB Hepatitis in the mid 80's, in the same articles discussing a mysterious immune disorder that we now know as aids. Did they screen for Hep A or Hep B in Nam?

There was a CDC doctor on CNN this afternoon who was talking about the Hep C threat to Boomers due to unprotected sex, infected tattoo needles and intravenous drug use, and blood transfusions before 1992.

I doubt there was screening for Hep B in Nam, and worldwide, that infection accounts for 1/10 deaths.
Hepatitis B was first discovered in 1963 by Dr. Baruch Blumberg and colleagues, who identified a protein (the “Australia antigen” that reacted to antibodies from patients with hemophilia and leukemia. The association of this protein with infectious hepatitis was discovered 3 years later by several investigators, and the virus was specifically seen by electron microscopy in 1970. 3
HBV is a double-stranded hepatotropic DNA virus belonging to the family Hepadnaviridae. The virus infects only humans and some other nonhuman primates. Viral replication takes place predominantly in hepatocytes and, to a lesser extent in the kidneys, pancreas, bone marrow, and spleen.
http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/hepatology/hepatitis-B/

[sojourner truth]

Who knows what they did to us before they put us on the plane. They stuck both arms, bith butt cheeks multiple times, and then took blood, urine and stool samples. It didn't do any good, but we were sore for a long time. I ran a fever for 2 weeks. I was first warned about Hep C in the early 90's. That and the possibility of shingles later in life. I am quite worried about it, but ther's really not much you can do about it.

I did all the stuff you weren't supposed to do as listed in the prior post.:) So far, I haven't had any problems.

[Mestral]

The fever you ran was probably due to either the typhoid or cholera vaccine, or a combination of several vaccines. (I have never seen it last two full weeks, but 5 days is common) It was mild compared to what you would have gotten if you had gotten a full blown case.

There is a shingles vaccine, and it is pretty reliable. (There is also a chicken pox shot for kids, but I am not yet convinced enough to recommend it, I still default to measles and chicken pox parties until shown good evidence the vaccine is better)