Hepatitis C infections rise among young

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Hepatitis C infections rise among young

May 06, 2011|By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

Even as the overall infection rate for hepatitis C is flat, more young adults in Massachusetts are contracting the virus, a new state report shows. State epidemiologist Dr. Alfred De called it an epidemic affecting cities, suburbs, and small towns: People between 15 and 24 are getting hooked on prescription opiates, moving onto intravenous drugs, and becoming infected when they share needles and other paraphernalia.

The rate of infection among teenagers and young adults nearly doubled between 2002 and 2009, the state Department of Public Health reported in a study published yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

De, an author of the study, said he once expected hepatitis C to all but disappear after the death of baby boomers who had acquired it through drug use decades ago, or transfusions given before the blood supply was screened for the virus.

In 2002, he said, people ages 15 to 24 accounted for 413, or 5 percent, of newly reported cases of hepatitis C in the state. In 2009, 931 cases were reported in this age group — 11 percent. From 2007 to 2009, 72 percent of the young cases reported current or past IV drug use.

De and other specialists said young users are less educated about how to avoid transmission by using clean needles and not sharing items used to prepare drugs.

Some of the increase could be a result of the state looking harder now, he said, but not all of it.

“The bottom line is we never expected to see this,’’ he said.

Older people, who may have been infected with hepatitis C for decades without knowing it because symptoms, including liver damage, are often slow to develop, still account for the majority of new diagnoses. But the teens and young adults are a new wave of the disease, and because many of the infections are hidden, this may be only the start.

In Boston, the trend is somewhat less clear. The number of cases among 15- to 25-year-olds has fluctuated considerably since 2004, exceeding 100 in both 2007 and 2010, but totaling about half that in 2009.

“It’s something I’m concerned about, but I don’t see a consistently upward trend in these numbers,’’ said Dr. Anita Barry, director of the Boston Public Health Commission Infectious Disease Bureau. “I think we have to wait and see what we have in 2011.’’

What is clear is that town and South Boston are seeing high rates of the disease among young people, she said.

Dr. Arthur Kim, infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said he has seen the increase over the years.

“We’re seeing a repeat of the epidemic that occurred in the ’70s and ’80s,’’ Kim said, but with one key difference. Young African-Americans are less likely to inject drugs now.

http://articles.boston.com/2011-05-06/news/29517335_1_young-adults-infection-young-people