High Prevalence of Hepatitis C Infection Among Adult Patients at Four Urban Emergency Departments - Birmingham, Oakland, Baltimore, and Boston, 2015-2017.

High Prevalence of Hepatitis C Infection Among Adult Patients at Four Urban Emergency Departments - Birmingham, Oakland, Baltimore, and Boston, 2015-2017. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020 May 15;69(19):569-574 Authors: Galbraith JW, Anderson ES, Hsieh YH, Franco RA, Donnelly JP, Rodgers JB, Schechter-Perkins EM, Thompson WW, Nelson NP, Rothman RE, White DAE Abstract Identifying persons with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has become an urgent public health challenge because of increasing HCV-related morbidity and mortality, low rates of awareness among infected persons, and the advent of curative therapies (1). Since 2012, CDC has recommended testing of all persons born during 1945-1965 (baby boomers) for identification of chronic HCV infection (1); urban emergency departments (EDs) are well positioned venues for detecting HCV infection among these persons. The United States has witnessed an unprecedented opioid overdose epidemic since 2013 that derives primarily from commonly injected illicit opioids (e.g., heroin and fentanyl) (2). This injection drug use behavior has led to an increase in HCV infections among persons who inject drugs and heightened concern about increases in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and HCV infection within communities disproportionately affected by the opioid crisis (3,4). However, targeted strategies for identifying HCV infection among persons who inject drugs is challenging (5,6). During 2015-2016, E...
Source: MMWR Morb Mortal Wkl... - Category: Epidemiology Authors: Tags: MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep Source Type: research