Hepatitis C Main Forums > Hepatitis C Research News & Studies
New Hepatitis C Cases Tripled Over the Past Decade
(1/1)
Hep Editors:
The rate of acute, or newly acquired, hepatitis C tripled between 2009 and 2018, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). What’s more, the liver disease now affects every generation, with new cases of chronic hep C among millennials—largely associated with the opioid crisis—equaling those among baby boomers.
An estimated 2.4 million people are living with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and around 40% of them do not know they carry the virus. Although some people with newly acquired HCV will clear the virus spontaneously without treatment, more than half develop chronic infection lasting more than six months.