Hepatitis C: The Uncounted Disease

Hepatitis C is the most common blood borne infection in the United States. And it's the leading cause of liver transplants. About three million people are walking around with the virus and according to the Centers for Disease Control, most of them are completely unaware that they are infected.

The costs of hepatitis C are mounting at a ferocious rate, but the state doesn't see a need to track this disease.

NHPR's Jon Greenberg filed this two-part report.

Hepatitis C: The Uncounted Disease was awarded the 2005 Best Feature Award by the New Hampshire Associated Press Broadcasters Association.

Part One

New Hampshire Public Radio has found evidence of a building wave of Hepatitis C hitting the state's health care system. But unlike many other infectious disease, the state does not track Hepatitis C and does not require doctors to report when they find patients who carry it.

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Part Two

Hepatitis C kills about 10,000 people a year in the U-S, about the same number as die from AIDS. But unlike with AIDS, the death toll from this virus is expected to triple in the next ten years. That increase has little to do with the spread of the disease today. It is due almost entirely to infections that took place two and three decades ago. The state pays little attention to the people getting ill today and has a key misconception of who those people are.

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