Many Children Suffer From Hepatitis C Without Diagnosis And Treatment

Many Children Suffer From Hepatitis C Without Diagnosis And Treatment.
Many children with hepatitis C go undiagnosed and untreated, which can conduct to stringent liver destruction later in life, a new study warns. Researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine esteemed that national data shows that between 0,2 percent and 0,4 percent of children in the United States are infected with hepatitis C. Based on that data, they regard they would recover about 12,155 cases of pediatric infection in Florida, yet only 1,755 cases were identified, a mere 14,4 percent of the expected legions of cases.

So "Our study showed a lack of adequate identification of hepatitis C virus infection in children that could be widespread throughout the nation," said precede researcher Dr Aymin Delgado-Borrego, a pediatric gastroenterologist and subsidiary professor of pediatrics. Hepatitis C is get a kick out of a "ticking bomb. It seems harmless until it explodes".

Most children and adults infected with hepatitis C do not have symptoms or only nonspecific symptoms, such as weary or abdominal pain, Delgado-Borrego said. She planned to now the findings Sunday at the Digestive Disease Week conference in New Orleans. Delgado-Borrego chose Florida for the swat because it is one of the few states that requires all cases of the infection to be reported to the adjoining health department.

"Not only was there a lack of proper identification, but among the children that have been identified the percentage of those receiving medical disquiet is extremely and unacceptably low". Based on these data, Delgado-Borrego's group found only about 1,2 percent of children with hepatitis C were receiving care by a pediatric hepatologist.