ALTOONA – A free Hepatitis C blood screening will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, at 501 Howard Ave., Altoona (across from Altoona Regional’s Altoona Hospital Campus), B-Building, Room 204. The screening is free and confidential. Pre-registration is preferred but walk-ins will be accommodated as time permits. Participants must be age 18 or older. Call 889-6111 to pre-register or for information.
The screening is sponsored by Altoona Regional Health System, Altoona Regional Partnering for Health Services, Blair County Drug & Alcohol Services and Blair Gastroenterology Associates.
Hepatitis C is a virus that attacks the liver, causing cirrhosis or scarring, liver failure and liver cancer, and is most often contracted through high-risk behaviors such as intravenous drug use, tattoos and body piercing, and sharing needles or razors with someone who is infected.
Other situations in which exposure can occur include dialysis, blood transfusions or solid organ transplants before 1992. Also, health care workers or individuals who work with blood have an increased risk of exposure — two of every 100 will contract the disease.
Hepatitis C is known by nicknames like “the ghost virus” and “the silent killer” for its ability to evade widespread media attention and even medical diagnosis despite being one of the most prevalent causes of chronic liver disease in the United States.
By the year 2014, Hepatitis C will be a pandemic, affecting an extraordinarily high number of people over a large geographic area, including Altoona and much of Blair County.