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Wear the Gown: Catching and curing Hepatitis C

Left untreated Hepatitis C can be deadly. That's why the University Health System is running a campaign to get those most vulnerable screened as soon as possible.

If left untreated, Hepatitis C can be deadly.

That's why the University Health System is running a campaign to get those most vulnerable screened as soon as possible.

Three out of every four people with Hepatitis C were born between 1945 and 1965, and the disease is a leading cause of liver cancer.

But there are treatments to cure hepatitis C. All it takes is a simple blood test to find out if you have the disease.

Katherine Whiteley, a family practice physician for University Health System told us, "Hepatitis is just general inflammation of the liver that can be a lot of things. It can be due to alcohol. It can be due to medications. It can be due to auto-immune disease."

Dr. Whiteley says part of the reason more baby boomers were susceptible to the disease, is due to older techniques of blood transfusions, sterilization procedures, and the way equipment was handled during the 1970s and 1980s. "Everything is disposed of. We don't reuse anything anymore. Everything is plastic. Everything is thrown away. Now we know a lot more than we used to," she said.

Those most at risk for Hepatitis C include people who have injected or inhaled street drugs, those with tattoos or piercings from unclean places, people who received organ transplants or blood before 1992, those who received dialysis, people with HIV, and that age group born between 1945 and 1965. Dr. Whiteley added, "The program is 12 weeks after all the testing and ruling out any other types of liver disease, alcoholism, drugs, medications. Hepatitis C is curable so we just want to get them screened and into the right place."

The blood test is quick and is covered by Medicare in the yearly physical. So if you are in a high-risk group, Dr. Whiteley says to schedule an appointment with your physician right away to get screened.

For more men's health information call 210-358-3045. You can also find the rest of our Wear the Gown stories, just go to WearTheGown.com.

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