Hepatitis C Infection Rates Are Stable
Hepatitis C Infection Rates Are Stable
Feb. 14, 2011 -- The incidence of new hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in the U.S. declined by more than 90% between 1990 and 1992 and has remained relatively stable ever since, new figures from the CDC confirm.
Although the reasons for the dramatic drop are not fully understood, researchers attribute much of it to a shift away from needles to other delivery systems by users of illicit drugs and the fact that most IV drug users had become infected by the early 1990s.
Illicit IV drug use is the most common source of new hepatitis C virus infection today, and this has been the case since the CDC first started collecting surveillance data in the early 1980s.
“New IV drug users are still being infected in high numbers, but they represent a very small percentage of the pool of people who are infected,” researcher Miriam J. Alter, PhD, of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, tells WebMD.
A Visual Guide to Hepatitis
Although the reasons for the dramatic drop are not fully understood, researchers attribute much of it to a shift away from needles to other delivery systems by users of illicit drugs and the fact that most IV drug users had become infected by the early 1990s.
Illicit IV drug use is the most common source of new hepatitis C virus infection today, and this has been the case since the CDC first started collecting surveillance data in the early 1980s.
“New IV drug users are still being infected in high numbers, but they represent a very small percentage of the pool of people who are infected,” researcher Miriam J. Alter, PhD, of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, tells WebMD.
A Visual Guide to Hepatitis
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