Hepatitis is a serious infectious liver disease. About 90% of people with hepatitis do not know they have it, so it continues to spread in our population.
A vaccine can prevent hepatitis B, but there is no cure.
Hepatitis C can be treated using daily pills taken for 8-12 weeks. The cure rate is greater than 90%, with few side effects.
Iowans who are most likely to have hepatitis are baby boomers — that is, people born between 1945 to 1964 — as well as persons who have had sex with someone who has hepatitis, those with past or current injection-drug use and some organ transplant recipients.
Hepatitis B and C can be spread through infected tattoo equipment.
Pregnant women can pass hepatitis to their unborn child.
A simple blood test at your primary clinic can detect hepatitis.
Anyone who received an organ transplant prior to 1992 should be screened for hepatitis.
All pregnant women should be tested for hepatitis during their first trimester.
Newborns of mothers who were positive for hepatitis need to receive Hepatitis B Immune Globulin (HBIG) and Hepatitis B Vaccine (HBV) within 12 hours of birth. Follow up doses of HBV are needed for baby at age 1 to 2 months and again at age 6 months.
Talk to your clinic about getting checked.
Ann Cochran is the health navigation coordinator in the Dallas County Public Health Department.
