All baby boomers should get hepatitis C test -CDC

All baby boomers should be tested at least once for the liver-destroying hepatitis C virus, according to proposed guidelines from U.S. health officials released on Friday.

The often-undiagnosed virus is transmitted through contaminated blood. While infection rates have dropped dramatically since the early 1990s - due in part to the introduction of blood and organ screening - many older adults are still at risk, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which released the draft guidelines.

According to the CDC, one in 30 baby boomers - the generation born from 1945 through 1965 - has been infected with hepatitis C, and most do not know it.

A one-time, cost-effective blood test would "identify hundreds of thousands of hidden infections," said Dr John Ward, director of CDC's division of viral hepatitis.

He likened the proposal to existing age-related guidelines on screening for diseases including breast cancer, cervical cancer and high cholesterol.

Hepatitis C Statistics: An Overview Hepatitis C is an infection of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). There are two types of hepatitis C - acute and chronic.

About 15 percent of cases end up being acute hepatitis C, in which the immune system is able to completely destroy the virus. For about 85 percent of infected people, however, the immune system is not able to completely get rid of the hepatitis C virus, and they end up having a long-term liver infection. This is called chronic hepatitis C.

Approximately 300 million people worldwide are infected with the hepatitis C virus. About 3.9 million people in the United States have chronic hepatitis C. This represents about 1.8 percent of the population.

Hepatitis C causes serious liver diseases, including liver cancer - the fastest-rising cause of cancer-related deaths - and is the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States.

The CDC said it believes routine blood tests will address the largely preventable consequences of the disease, especially in light of newly available therapies that can cure around 75 percent of infections.

Worldwide Prevalence Hepatitis C is a global disease. While not every nation in the world has had adequate means to survey its population for incidence of the virus, enough statistics have been compiled to demonstrate the enormous threat posed by hepatitis C. Hepatitis C, in combination with hepatitis B, now accounts for 75% of all cases of liver disease around the world.

Hepatitis C shows significant genetic variation in worldwide populations, evidence of its frequent rates of mutation and rapid evolution. There are six basic genotypes of HCV, with 15 recorded subtypes, which vary in prevalence across different regions of the world. Each of these major genotypes may differ significantly in their biological effects - in terms of replication, mutation rates, type and severity of liver damage, and detection and treatment options - however, these differences are not yet clearly understood.