CDC: Baby boomers should be tested for Hep C

Aug 18 2012

Americans born between 1945 and 1965 are at particularly high risk for Hepatitis C and should be tested, according to new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: CDC: All Baby Boomers Should Be Tested For Hepatitis C
The CDC is calling for all Americans born between 1945 and 1965 to be tested for the Hepatitis C virus as part of expanded recommendations to limit related illnesses and deaths that were released today (Rao, 8/16).

NPR: CDC Recommends Hepatitis C Testing For All Boomers
Listen up, baby boomers. The government wants every one of you to get tested for the hepatitis C virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made a sweeping recommendation official amid growing concern about the estimated 2 million boomers infected with the virus, which can cause cirrhosis and liver cancer. The advice was published in the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. CDC officials say most of these people don't know they are infected and will develop liver disease unless they get treatment that clears the virus from the body (Hamilton, 8/16).

The Des Moines Register: CDC Recommends Hepatitis C Testing For All Baby Boomers
Federal experts drew a "thank God" from John R. Chamberlain on Thursday by recommending that all baby boomers be tested for the hepatitis C virus. The Des Moines man is 49, which puts him at the young end of the baby boom generation. He said it makes sense that people in his age group are particularly likely to have contracted the blood-borne virus, which can take decades to cause serious liver damage (Leys, 8/16).