ATLANTA — All baby boomers should get a one-time blood test to learn if they have the liver-destroying hepatitis C virus, the Center for Disease Control has recently stated.
“Unless we take action, we project deaths will increase substantially,” said CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, in a call with reporters.
It can take decades for the blood-borne virus to cause liver damage and symptoms to emerge, so many people don’t know they have it. Baby boomers account for about two-thirds of the estimated 3.2 million infected Americans.
More than 15,000 Americans die each year from hepatitis C-related illnesses and the number has been growing, according to the CDC. About 3 percent of baby boomers  or one in thirty test positive for the virus, the CDC estimates. Baby Boomers are those born between 1945-1965.
Hepatitis C virus is most commonly spread today through sharing needles to inject drugs. Before widespread screening of blood donations began in 1992, it was also spread through blood transfusions.
It’s possible some people were infected in ways other than dirty needles or long-ago blood transfusions. Some experts say tattoos, piercings, shared razor blades and sniffing cocaine may have caused the virus to spread in some cases. This also includes high risk sexual behavior with multiple partners and resulting in other sexually transmitted diseases. Health care workers are also at risk.
The virus can gradually scar the liver and lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer, and is the leading cause of liver transplant. It can trigger damage in other parts of the body, as well.
About 3 percent of baby boomers test positive for the virus, the CDC estimates. This is about one out of 33. Of those, some manage to clear the infection from their bodies without treatment, but still have lingering antibodies that give a positive initial test result. That’s why confirmatory tests are needed.
However it happened, health officials say baby boomers are five times more likely to be infected than other adults.
Officials said they decided to issue the recommendations after seeing the number of Americans dying from hepatitis C-related diseases nearly double from 1999 to 2007. Many Boomers were infected years ago and don’t consider themselves to be at risk.
So, if you are a Baby Boomer, who has settled down to the straight and narrow but once led a life on the wild side, it’d be a good idea to be tested.
Or if you had to have a blood transfusion before 1992, you need to be tested.
During that annual physical, request  the test. It could prolong you life.
    KAREN LA PIERRE