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Posted at 12:04 p.m., Thursday, October 16, 2003

State releases plan for dealing with hepatitis C

Associated Press

The state Department of Health is releasing its newly developed plan to tackle hepatitis C — the nation’s most common blood-borne viral infection.

The plan addresses issues of surveillance, education, prevention and treatment, health officials said.

"Because of the similar risk factors between viral hepatitis, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, we have been working to develop a program that integrates hepatitis prevention, particularly hepatitis C, into existing public health prevention services and programs," said Peter Whitica, chief of the department’s STD/AIDS Prevention Branch.

More than 5,000 cases of hepatitis C have been reported by Hawai'i physicians and laboratories since 1997, officials said.

But since the virus doesn’t always produce symptoms, as many as 20,000 people in Hawai'i could be infected with hepatitis C, they said.

Health officials encourage testing of members of high-risk groups to identify those infected and to prevent spread of the virus to others.

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends hepatitis testing for people who have used injection drugs, were treated for clotting problems with a blood product made before 1987, received a blood transfusion or solid organ transplant before July 1991, or were ever on long-term kidney dialysis.