A new study revealed that many people infected with Hepatitis C are dying due to the absence of proper care and treatment plans.
Researchers from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of Americans infected with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) are decreasing not because they get treated but because of death.
To estimate the incidence of HCV infection from 2003 to 2010, the researchers analyzed data of thousands of participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and 900,000 more people who have had HCV infection before.
They discovered that 1.3 percent of the population either has the disease or had the disease. That rate is 0.3 percent lower and 0.5 percent lower compared to the estimation from 1999 to 2002 and 1988 to 1994, respectively.
The figure initially indicated a positive sign. However, upon further analysis, they found that the drop in the rate wasn't because patients were cured.
According to the researchers, if the treatment cures the patients, a decrease in the rate of people with current HCV infection will simultaneously be paired with an increase in the number of people getting the disease. But it turned out that the downward trend was because the mortality among HCV infected individuals has increased.
Hepatitis C virus infection is the number one cause of liver cancer and cirrhosis in the United States. Though there is a possibility of recovery from the disease in a matter of weeks, 75 percent progresses to the chronic stage that can last for the rest of their lives. It can be transmitted through contact with the infected blood.
Aside from the incidence of the disease, they also identified risk factors associated with it. They found that most of the participants who have chronic HCV infection had received a blood transfusion before 1992 and have taken illegal drugs through injection. However, those who have had neither of the two, which accounts for 49 percent, underwent "an incomplete approach to identifying chronically infected persons," researchers told the LA Times.
They added, "The health impact of advances in HCV therapy can be realized only when HCV-infected persons are tested, identified, and linked to appropriate care and treatment."
Further details of the study can be read on the March 4 issue of the journal, Annals of Internal Medicine.
