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CDC recommends testing for hepatitis C Posted 10-26-98 The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released broad recommendations for preventing and controlling the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Based on July meetings with experts, the recommendations address the prevention of transmission; identification, counseling, and testing of at-risk people; and medical evaluation and management of people with HCV. The CDC suggests testing for anyone who has ever injected illegal drugs, been treated for clotting problems (hemophilia) with blood products made before 1987, had long-term kidney dialysis, or received a blood transfusion or an organ transplant before July 1992, when more reliable hepatitis C testing began on donated blood. Healthcare workers exposed to HCV-positive blood and children born to HCV-positive women should also be tested, suggests the CDC. The CDC estimates as many as 1 million people were transfused with blood that might have been infected with HCV. Hospitals and blood banks will try to notify the one-third of these people who received blood from donors and later tested positive for the hepatitis C virus. The Food and Drug Administration, which is administering the examination of past records, wants notification to be completed by February 2000. "It’s a very time-consuming process," says Tina McNabb, blood bank manager at Methodist Medical Center in Dallas. Methodist Medical Center started computerizing its records in 1993, so for prior years "it’s a matter of going into the basement and looking through all the paper records," Mc- Nabb explained. An education program being planned by the CDC will inform the public of the importance of being tested for HCV. Related Site |
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