Hepatitis Gone Viral: 100 Times More Infectious Than HIV, Over 40 Americans Dying Daily

At a Government and Oversight Reform Committee hearing this week, I testified to the devastating and deadly impacts of an unsuspecting disease: Viral Hepatitis. The fact that I was joined by Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health, and Dr. John Ward, Director of the Viral Hepatitis Program at the Center for Disease Control, underscores the importance of the issue. Government oversight is a good start to getting the American public more informed, but much more is needed, according to the Institute of Medicine's 2010 report titled "Hepatitis and Liver Cancer: A National Strategy for Prevention and Control of Hepatitis B and C".

Few realize how highly infectious viral hepatitis is. Hepatitis B is 100 times more infectious than HIV. Few realize that, left untreated, it can cause liver disease, liver cancer, and premature death decades after infection. Few realize that roughly 2 billion people worldwide have been infected with Hepatitis B; over 170 million people are chronically infected with Hepatitis C; and in this nation alone, an estimated 5.3 million people are infected with either Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C. Tragically, an average of two-thirds of those infected are unaware of their status.

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