Opinion: Viral hepatitis is a silent killer. It can’t be eliminated if it isn’t tracked
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, viral hepatitis killed more people in the United States than all 60 other reportable infectious diseases combined, including HIV, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. Which doesn’t really make sense, since effective vaccines are available for hepatitis A and B, there are successful therapies for hepatitis B, and there’s a treatment that can cure hepatitis C.
By all accounts, the U.S. should be able to eliminate viral hepatitis, but instead new cases are on the rise, largely due to the opioid epidemic and increasing viral hepatitis transmission through injection drug use.
