CDC: Significant Increase In HCV Infections In Four States Tied To Injection Drug And Painkiller Abuse.

that “the incidence of acute” HCV “infections among young people in rural areas of” those “four Appalachian states more than tripled from 2006 to 2012,” the CDC report found. In those four states, “new hepatitis cases among people age 30 and younger rose from 1.25 per 100,000 in 2006 people to 4 per 100,000 in 2012.” In nearly three-quarters (73%) of these cases, HCV patients admitted to injecting “drugs, which can spread the virus when people share needles.” According to USA Today, “the report is the first CDC study to link the rise in hepatitis C to an increase in injection drug use, said John Ward, director of viral hepatitis prevention at the CDC, who called the rising infection rates ‘staggering.’” http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/05/07/drug-use-increases-hepatitis/70907318/