A new report indicates the hepatitis C (HCV) epidemic peaked between 1940 and 1965 with reused medical syringes to blame, not injection drug use or high risk sexual practices among baby boomers, as has often been claimed.
Researchers and advocates alike hope this new information will help dispel some of the stigma attached to having hep C – particularly for older adults – and encourage more people to get tested and connected with potentially life-saving treatment. The research is further proof that anyone born between 1945 and 1964 should be tested for HCV, even if they feel like they’ve never been at risk.
Published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, the research shows that the hepatitis C epidemic can be traced to hospital transmissions caused by the practice of reusing needles in medical settings.
Dr. Julio Montaner from the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate why 75 percent of the up to 6 million adults living with Hep C in North America were born between 1945 and 1964.
“The theory was that in North America the hepatitis C epidemic in baby boomers was due to some behavioral indiscretions that generation had in their younger years,” Montaner said in a statement to the press. “That understanding led to the significant development of stigma around Hep C.”
To trace the disease back in time, the researchers scoured over 45,000 records, discovering that most of the baby boomers were roughly five years-old around the peak of the hep C epidemic in 1950.
“Thus, it is unlikely that past sporadic risky behavior – experimentation with injecting drug use, unsafe tattooing, high risk sex, travel to endemic areas – was the dominant route of transmission in this group,” the study concludes.