The Case for Increased Testing for Chronic Hepatitis B Virus by the CDC
The CDC has recently come out with the recommendation that medical professionals should increase routine testing in the U.S. for chronic hepatitis B. Hepatitis B is a main cause of liver cancer and disease. The recommendation suggests that testing be done on all persons born in Africa and Asia and that it also be done on others in the at-risk population, such as men who have sex with men and injection drug users.
The recommendations sent out by the CDC, for the first time, come with guidelines for managing chronically infected patients of hepatitis B.
“Chronic hepatitis B affects the lives of more than one million Americans, many of whom do not even know they are infected. These new recommendations are critical to identifying people who are living with the disease without the benefits of medical attention,” said John W. Ward, M.D., director of CDC's Division of Viral Hepatitis. “Testing is the first step to identify infected persons so that they can receive lifesaving care and treatment, which can break the cycle of transmission, slow disease progression, and prevent deaths from liver cancer.”
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