Hepatitis C—Why You Should Test
Hepatitis C virus (HCV), once known as "non-A, non-B" hepatitis, develops into a chronic liver infection in at least 85% of the 150,000 newly infected people each year. Common methods of transmission are transfusions, needle-stick injuries, body piercing, tattooing, intravenous drug use and hemodialysis. Sexual transmission is also suspected.

Facts

• Currently in the United States, there are approximately 4 million Americans chronically infected with HCV, and 10,000 die from it each year.
• By 2010, the estimated annual death rate from HCV will be 38,000 - a number equivalent to the current death rate for HIV.
• Like chronic hepatitis B, the chronic form of HCV has a high probability of resulting in cirrhosis, liver cancer or even liver failure. Liver failure due to chronic HCV is the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States.
• Many individuals with normal liver function test results are still infected with HCV.
• There is no vaccine to prevent hepatitis C infection.

Recommended Testing Guidelines
LabOne recommends testing for applicants with any of the following:

• elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels
• history of unspecified "hepatitis" o liver disease or jaundice
• blood transfusions prior to 1990 in the U.S. and 1993 in Canada

Applicants who live in states or provinces where hepatitis risk is particularly high should also be tested.