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For a while, there was a chance that the U.S. might eliminate Hepatitis C. Few new cases were showing up, and most of those infected with the virus were Baby Boomers who had been living with the disease for decades. Hopes really soared when the first medications hit the market that that could eliminate — not just manage — the infection.
Sammy Saab, a hepatologist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, was one of the physicians who thought the U.S. might soon be rid of the liver-targeting disease. That is, until new data rolled in showing that Hepatitis C was far from gone. “This came as a big surprise to everybody,” Saab says.
Between 2009 and 2018, the annual rate of acute Hepatitis C cases in the U.S. tripled. In 2018 alone, nearly 138,000 new cases were reported, according to a new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Instead of Baby Boomers, individuals between 20 and 39 years of age dominate those case numbers — all of which largely underestimate the true number of Hepatitis C cases in the U.S., as early stages of the disease often lack symptoms. The rise in cases has also pushed the CDC to issue new recommendations that every adult get tested for Hepatitis C at least once in their life, with every pregnant individual getting tested, too.
Though these new case numbers were a surprise, their culprit is clear: “Injection drug use is the primary risk factor for Hepatitis C in the U.S. for new infections,” says Rachel Gicquelais, a researcher with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health studying infectious disease and substance abuse. A growing opioid epidemic means more individuals are potentially reusing or borrowing needles, providing the perfect opportunity for a virus that spreads via blood to infect someone new. To reverse the trend, health care providers will administer the same diagnostic tests and medications — but will have to overhaul their approach to reaching these new patients.
Journal Reference
Ryerson AB, Schillie S, Barker LK, et al. Vital Signs: Newly Reported Acute and Chronic Hepatitis C Cases ― United States, 2009–2018, MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6914a2)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 21 2020, @11:00AM
Damn it, I'm getting stir crazy now, and I'm a hikikomori! Never would have guessed that putting on a compression tank and RPing one of thos cis+het incels every day meant so much to me, though I had expected to be in the final stages of GTFO flyover country instead of HODLing in place, wondering if I'm ever going to escape flyover country.
Was supposed to have died of AIDS in a gutter, but the same person who told me that also told me I was a lizard person. Guess I'm just bad at dying, so Hep C will have to do. The ethical hurdles of a stop in a Nevada brothel producing demand for sexual slavery have been cleared. Objections may be filed away in the revenge file. Huzzah. It will be done. But beauty standards apply, because after all if you have sex with an ugly whore, it probably still does not count any more than any of my boyfriends, so I guess next step is to infiltrate an incel forum with my shapeshifting capabilities and see if I can get the all men conspiracy to divulge the secret codes for hiring a whore that looks just like the way the editors of Playboy or Maxim or whatever think women should look.
Could go the non-whore route but this seems more natural for somebody who claims to worship one of those ancient sex goddesses, and I'll be looking for friends where I intend to move to, not cherries to pop or wtf I'm supposed to be doing due to my assigned gender caste. Don't want to screw that up with left over angst. Just gotta get this done, unlock the achievement, and get on with my life.