Being tested for the Hepatitis C virus is essential because it is so easy to miss and the incubation period of the disease is so long without actual physical effects or sickness. Although Mount Sinai Medical Center's Dr. Douglas Dieterich, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Liver Diseases and former Hepatitis C patient, believes the number of undiagnosed Hepatitis C patients is over 2 million, I feel that number should be expanded to close to 4 million.
With the incredibly long incubation period and the multiple infections caused in the past by blood transfusions and in hospital procedures, the number will turn out to be much higher than expected. Since the virus can have an incubation period of 20 to 40 years, imagine how many innocent Americans could have been exposed before the blood supply was properly screened on a consistent basis. Remember that screening only began in America in May of 1990 when the FDA approved a test to screen the nation's blood supply. It took longer than expected for such a test to become a normative procedure in every hospital and clinic across the country. As a result, many people were accidentally infected in the 1990s.
Since 2007, more people have died from HCV than from HIV. Such a statistic is astounding. What is even more frightening is that 4 times as many people will be die of complications from the Hepatitis C virus in 2020 than died in 2010. A fourfold increase is downright terrifying. Indeed, HCV is a modern American plague that needs to be addressed today. Yes, it is difficult to transmit and can only be transmitted through blood, but the number of people already infected have reached plague numbers. Once over 1% of a population is infected with a disease, it properly can be referred to as a plague.
NEW YORK, NY, Nov 16, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX)
The Mount Sinai Medical Center has embarked on a new mission to educate the public about Hepatitis C and urge more Americans to be tested for this "silent killer." While two million people in the US suffer from Hepatitis C, an additional two million are undiagnosed, putting them at risk for devastating long-term effects. Through an important video program, The Mount Sinai Medical Center's Dr. Douglas Dieterich, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Liver Diseases and former Hepatitis C patient, urges people to take charge of their health by getting tested for the virus, even if no symptoms are present.
Did you know that not all patients are IV drug or intranasal cocaine user? Other ways to contract the virus include: body piercings, tattoos, manicures, pedicures, or even while playing sports such as boxing and rugby.
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| How Did You Get Infected? So Many Innocents are so Terribly Surprised! |
The virus can creep along very silently, presenting no symptoms or abnormal liver test results for 30-40 years--Hepatitis C is spread by blood to blood contact. If left undetected, the virus can lead to advanced scarring of the liver, or a condition known as cirrhosis, and eventually cause liver failure or other major complications including liver cancer--About 4 times as many people will die in 2020 from Hepatitis C then in 2010. "Many people around the world, probably the majority got it, through the fault of the health care system. They got infected needles from vaccines or other medical devices when they were in the medical world," says Dr. Dieterich.
Along with shattering the stigma surrounding the Hepatitis C virus, Dr. Dieterich wants patients to understand that testing positive for the virus is not a death sentence if caught early. Dr. Dieterich himself contracted the virus in 1977 while attending medical school. He accidentally stuck himself with a needle infected with Hepatitis C and suffered from a rare, but acute reaction. Frustrated with his diagnosis and lack of options to treat it, Dr. Dieterich dedicated his career to studying Hepatitis C and finding effective treatment options for those diagnosed.
He was cured in 1998 after an 18-month regimen of daily interferon injections and Ribavirin -- an anti-viral drug that was unavailable at the time of his diagnosis. While he was lucky, he knew there was much more work to be done. Today patients have access to new, FDA-approved protease inhibitors that bring the cure rate to 80 percent. "If we can treat you, we can cure you almost all of the time. So go get tested before it's too late," says Dr. Dieterich
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