VA on Track to Cure Nearly All Patients with Hepatitis C

Four years ago, the Department of Veterans Affairs launched an ambitious initiative to cure all VA patients with chronic hepatitis C. Today, the department is more than three-quarters of the way, healing nearly 100,000 veterans of the virus, with 26,000 more to go. Hepatitis C disproportionately affects people born between 1945 and 1965 and is contracted by sharing contaminated needles, getting a tattoo in an unregulated setting, having a blood transfusion before 1992, or having sex with infected partners. Many of those with hepatitis C at the VA are Vietnam-era veterans who may have contracted it through transfusions, field vaccinations or intravenous drug use. Given that the VA is the largest single hepatitis C care provider in the country, the department set out in 2015 to eradicate the disease within its patient population, reducing their risk for cirrhosis, liver failure, cancer and death. Read more about the cure effort on Military.com.