Why is Hepatitis C Tripling?

You may have heard of the word Hepatitis A and B. But what about Hepatitis C? Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus that can severely damage the liver. However, between 2010 and 2015, Hepatitis C rates have been tripling. There have been about 34,000 new infections nationally for just the year 2015.

The chance of a woman who smokes cigarettes during pregnancy having this virus increases to 32 percent. "We suspect it is linked to the ongoing opioid epidemic in the US." said Dr. Stephen W. Patrick, author of the study and assistant professor of pediatrics and health policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "As the opioid epidemic has continued to evolve, there has been an uptick in heroin and now fentanyl-related complications. Heroin is generally injected, and this comes with a risk of HCV and HI," explained Dr. Patrick. About 3.5 million people, in the US currently have an infection with Hepatitis C.

By this point you may be wondering, why is this virus so dangerous? When someone has Hepatitis C, they have an infection which is caused by a virus that attacks the liver and leads to inflammation. This sounds pretty painful right? But the problem is, many people don’t have a lot of significant or unusual symptoms. Those who do develop symptoms may have fatigue, nausea, loss of appetite, and yellowing of the eyes and skin. So you can see that why when someone has Hepatitis C, they don’t know they have it, and that could be the main reason why Hepatitis C is tripling.