Baby Boomers Beware! Hepatitis C can be a Death Sentence

On May 18, 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that anyone born between 1945 and 1965 should be tested for hepatitis C.

Baby boomers are the generation most likely to be infected with hepatitis C., but only about 25% of us have been tested for it. Many people do not know they are infected because they do not look or feel sick. The CDC believes that hundreds of thousands of hepatitis C infections occurred in the 1970's and 1980's among baby boomers.

Hepatitis A, B and C are contagious diseases caused by different viruses. First identified in 1989, the hepatitis C virus is a blood borne pathogen normally spread by contact with an infected person's blood. The disease is most common among current or past injection drug abusers. Before 1992, hepatitis C was sometimes transmitted by blood transfusions. Having sex with an infected person is a less common mode of transmission. The virus may be spread by sharing razors, toothbrushes, getting tattoos, body piercings or manicures with contaminated instruments.

A spokesperson for the CDC warned that baby boomers might not remember their risky behavior. A dollar bill rolled up to snort coke and passed from one person to the next might contain enough blood to transmit the virus.

The virus is not spread by sharing eating utensils, breastfeeding, hugging, kissing, coughing or sneezing, or through food or water.

Acute hepatitis C occurs within the first six months of exposure. Most people with acute hepatitis C develop the serious, lifelong chronic form of this disease.

Chronic hepatitis C can lead to scarring (cirrhosis) of the liver or liver cancer. This infection is the leading cause of liver transplant today. The virus may damage other parts of the body as well. The number of people who died of hepatitis C related illnesses nearly doubled between 1999 and 2007. The CDC estimates that more than 15,000 Americans die of hepatitis C related illnesses every year.

My interest in hepatitis C is personal. About two years ago, I located my former roommate's adult daughter. She told me that her mother had died of liver cancer in 2006. She said her mother had hepatitis C for about 30 years before she developed liver cancer. This was surprising to me because we lived together for several years, but her mother never told me that she was infected with hepatitis C.

The CDC has announced that living with a person who has hepatitis C slightly increases your risk of contracting the virus.

The CDC is hoping to save more lives by encouraging baby boomers to take the one time blood test for hepatitis C. There are medications that can be taken to fight the infection. So please call your doctor and schedule an appointment to be tested. The life saved might be your own.

Lifting the Ban

When I started this blog, I decided to avoid discussing religion and politics because those subjects often lead to arguments. Mormon Fundamentalism, Mormon polygamy, the FLDS, and the anti-polygamy movement are so controversial that discussions about them tend to bring out the worst in people. My decision to avoid these topics was influenced by a lawsuit between Gregory Prickett (who may use the screen name "TexasBluesMan") and Hugh McBryde, Bill Medvecky, Scott Ledbetter and others. I was not part of the lawsuit. I don't want to go into the details or take sides. I'll simply say that the lawsuit stemmed from an online argument about the FLDS that got out of hand.

Yes, I am Mormon. I don't claim to be a good Mormon, but I'm Mormon. I don't want to argue with anybody. I don't want anyone's feelings to get hurt. I don't want to "out" anyone either. I won't try to convince you to change your religion if you don't try to convince me to change mine.

I have friends who are LDS, ex LDS, FLDS, and/or ex FLDS. I like them all. Some of my friends are Protestants; others are Catholic. I daresay that some of my friends are Atheists. My favorite co-worker is a gay Asian-American who was raised in the Roman Catholic Church. If I like you, I like you. Your skin color, ethnic origin, religion or sexual preference aren't important to me. I want everyone to feel welcome and safe here.

That being said, I have found that deliberately avoiding one issue is rather stifling.

So I'm lifting the ban. We can talk about Mormon Fundamentalism, polygamy, the FLDS and the anti-polygamy movement, provided that we behave as mature, responsible adults. No fighting. No arguing. No lawsuits.

One more thing. There are different types of Mormons. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The LDS Church and the FLDS sect are two separate and distinct churches. The LDS Church abandoned the practice of polygamy in 1890 and excommunicates anyone who practices or advocates polygamy.