Hepatitis C Costing US in Excess of $5-Billion Each Year

The hepatitis C virus (HCV), which causes chronic liver disease and is the countries most common cause of liver transplantation, cost the US economy roughly $5.46-billion in 1997, according to researchers. A figure that puts it on a par with asthma and rheumatoid arthritis, in terms of economic cost. HCV is transmitted through sexual intercourse with an infected person, receiving a transfusion of infected blood, or by sharing contaminated needles, and is the most common chronic blood-borne infection in the US. Study co-author Dr. Christopher L. Bowlus from the University of California at Davis Medical Center, said: "Our findings emphasize the tremendous impact that this epidemic is having on our society, not only in human lives but economic costs as well." He believes that the economic cost of HCV infection justifies requests for increased funding for research and the development of better prevention, screening, and treatment programs. The CDC have estimated that HCV-related mortality could nearly triple within the two decades.

_{SOURCE/REFERENCE: Archives of Internal Medicine 2001; 161:2231-2237}