CDC study shows Hepatitis C cases on the rise

According to a new study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of new Hepatitis C cases has risen with the opioid epidemic.

The number of new nationally reported infections with the virus swelled from 850 in 2010 to 2,436 cases in 2015, with the highest rates among young people, mainly 20- to 29-year-olds, who inject drugs.  And that number could be as high as 34,000 nationally for 2015 because hepatitis C has few symptoms and most people newly infected people do not get diagnosed.

Maryland's number rose from 24 new cases in 2010 to 42 in 2014 according to the CDC's website.  Statistics for individual states were not made available for 2015.  Maryland's rate of cases was on par with the national average in 2014.

Dr. John Ward, and author of the new report and director of the division of viral hepatitis at the CDC, says the research identified injecting drug use in rural and suburban areas as a leading cause in the spike in cases.

"These new infections are most frequently among young people who transition from taking prescription pills to injecting heroin, which has become cheaper and more easily available in some cases," said Ward. "In turn many — most, in some communities — people who inject drugs become infected with hepatitis C."

There is not vaccine for Hepatitis C and the CDC says avoiding behaviors that can spread the disease, such as injecting drugs, is the best way to avoid contracting the disease.

Symptoms include fever, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, joint pain and jaundice.