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At the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2017) in Seattle, Washington, researchers from MedStar Health Research Institute in Maryland presented new data on hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive non-baby boomers.
It’s widely acknowledged that those individuals belonging to the baby boomer age group (those born between 1946 and 1964) are at higher risk of acquiring HCV infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these individuals are five times more likely to be infected with HCV. However, other at-risk populations may not be getting adequately tested for the virus.
Baby boomers are at a higher risk for HCV, but the reason why isn’t completely understood. Some researchers say that HCV transmission was highest from the 1960s to 1980s; others attribute it more to the fact that this group was exposed to infected medical equipment before sufficient transmission precautions were put into place. This is why the CDC recommends that all people in this population get tested for HCV, even if they don’t have any other risk factors. Beyond baby boomers, those who have ever injected drugs and those who received a blood transfusion or organ donation before 1992 are also advised to get tested.
The study presented at CROI2017 examined 329 non-baby boomers tested between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2015. The case-control analysis did not match controls for age, sex, or race—although clinical studies typically do—because the researchers wanted to observe potential differences.
About 50% of those participants in the age clusters of 46 to 50 and 71 to 75 tested positive.
The authors concluded, “Testing non-[baby boomer] patients only on the basis of risk factors has the potential to miss a significant number of hepatitis C Ab+ patients.”
See more at: http://www.contagionlive.com/news/hcv-screening-shouldnt-just-focus-on-at-risk-populations#sthash.YSIf3bYY.dpuf