Today (5/11/17), the CDC released new preliminary viral hepatitis surveillance data showing that the number of new hepatitis C infections reported to CDC nearly tripled between 2010 and 2015, reaching a 15-year high. CDC estimates that about 34,000 new hepatitis C infections occurred in the United States in 2015.

New hepatitis C infections are increasing most rapidly among young people, primarily due to increasing injection drug use associated with America's opioid epidemic. However, the majority (three-quarters) of the 3.5 million Americans already living with hepatitis C are baby boomers, who are six times more likely to be infected with hepatitis C than those in other age groups and are at much greater risk for death from the virus.

Hepatitis C kills more Americans than any other infectious disease reported to CDC. The data released today indicate that nearly 20,000 Americans died from hepatitis C-related causes in 2015, the majority aged 55 and older.

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Posted 5/13/17