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By Timothy W. Martin

U.S. health officials are proposing all baby boomers get tested for hepatitis C, because theyre five times more likely than other adults to have the potentially fatal liver virus and many might not know theyre at risk.

Of the more than 70 million baby boomers those born from 1945 to 1965 800,000 may have contracted the liver virus decades ago from unsafe blood transfusions or experimental drug use and not gotten tested, U.S. health officials say. Many neglect getting tested, because theyve forgotten getting a transfusion or drug use, or theyre unaware they could be at risk. For those baby boomers who do remember risky actions, some may balk at telling their doctor.

So, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday proposed a recommendation that all members of that generation get a one-time blood test for Hepatitis C. About two-thirds of the 3.2 million U.S. adults with hepatitis C is a baby boomer, the CDC said.

Hepatitis C doesnt exhibit many symptoms. It slowly inflames or scars the liver, for years, if not decades. If undiagnosed, hepatitis C can cause liver cancer or cirrhosis, and U.S. health officials said more than 15,000 Americans died from those illnesses in 2007, the most recent data available.

The proposed recommendation comes as treatments battling hepatitis C are improving. For decades, it was combated with an injection that, under the best of circumstances, would clear out 30% to 40% of the virus, Dr. Paul Gaglio, medical director of the liver-transplantation program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York tells the Health Blog. Now, the injections are being paired with two new types of oral tablets, developed by Merck and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, that can block the virus from replicating. The combined therapy has doubled the treatments effectiveness, Gaglio says.

Our hope is that one day well have treatments that produce a near 100% clearance of the virus, he says.

The CDC guidelines, for now, call for hepatitis C testing only for individuals with certain known risk factors say, a blood transfusion before 1992 or admitted recreational intravenous drug use. The proposed recommendation, which could be enacted later this year, would suggest that all of the more than 70 million baby boomers get tested.

Hepatitis C is a huge unrecognized health crisis, says Dr. Bryce D. Smith, lead health scientist at the CDCs division of viral hepatitis. Its referred to as a silent killer, because there are so few noticeable symptoms.

For previous generations, blood transfusions and recreational drug use were less common, experts said. And for younger adults, universal standards were established in the early 1990s for more widespread blood screening of donors. The HIV scare, around the same time, led to more cautious drug use, especially for those doing so by injection.

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U.S. Suggests All Baby Boomers Should Get Tested for Hepatitis C