Why baby boomers should get tested for hepatitis C
October 04, 2018
IN THE NEWS: UCI Health gastroenterologist Dr. Douglas L. Nguyen tells U.S. News & World Report that baby boomers should be screened for hepatitis C because they are at greater risk for carrying the virus.
Get screened even if you don't have symptoms, Nguyen said, because hepatitis C is a silent killer that can lie dormant in the body for decades. In fact, most people who are infected with hepatitis C don't know it, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
People born between 1946 and 1964 are disproportionately at risk for being infected with hepatitis C, compared to people in other age groups, largely because blood products weren't screened for the virus until the early 1990s. The CDC recommends that all men and women of that generation get tested for the virus.
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