August 2014 (Medical News Today)
Article
In the US, 1 in every 100 people has chronic hepatitis C. But according to astudy published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, current screening and treatments for the disease will make it “rare” by the year 2036, affecting only 1 in every 1,500 people. They note this could even happen 10 years earlier if treatment and screening methods are further improved.
These findings come from a predictive computer model created by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, PA, in collaboration with investigators from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
The team calculated that if one-time screening was offered to all Americans – allowing more individuals to receive earlier treatment – 933,700 cases could be identified in the next 12 years, meaning hepatitis C could become a rare disease 10 years earlier than with current screening recommendations.
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