Baby boomers should be screened for Hep C: Edmonton virologists

published on July 28, 2016 by Emily Mertz, in Global News

Two of the world’s most predominant virologists are urging baby boomers to get tested for hepatitis C to better protect all Canadians.

The viral infection can destroy the liver and can be fatal. It’s usually acquired through contact with blood, including through blood transfusions, IV drug use or contaminated needles.

“This is very common,” Dr. Lorne Tyrrell, director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology at the University of Alberta, said.

Up to 35,000 people in Alberta have hepatitis C, Tyrrell said.

People with the infection may not even know they have it since it can take years – even decades – before the symptoms of liver disease are noticed.

Dr. Michael Houghton has spent much of his career trying to find the cause of hepatitis C. After seven years, he discovered a virus and developed a test that would determine if patients were infected.

“In the last few years, we’ve developed very good drugs that can cure virtually every patient,” said Houghton, who is the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Virology at the University of Alberta.

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© Copyright BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS
St. Paul's Hospital 608–1081 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6Z 1Y6
Tel: 604-806-8477 | Fax: 604-806-9044
General inquiries: info@bccfe.ca
Media inquiries: communications@bccfe.ca
(Please do not use any of these email addresses to send personal information or book an appointment. To book appointments or contact the H2H clinic, please call 604-416-1517 or fax: 604-564-4893. Do not send your or your client's personal information via email.)

Our work serves clients and communities across British Columbia on lands and waters cared for and nurtured by the many distinct First Nations across the province. The BC-CfE humbly and gratefully acknowledge the stewards of these lands, particularly the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔ (Tsleil-Waututh) on whose unceded, traditional and ancestral territories our offices are located.