Hepatitis C in pregnant women nearly doubles in the middle of opioid epidemic
The current opioid epidemic in the United States is considered to be the main cause for the major increase in the number of pregnant women with hepatitis C, as a recent report claims.
Around 3.5 million Americans live with this disease, making it the country’s most comon blood-borne infection, according to CBS.
The number of pregnant women affected by hepatitis C almost doubled from 2009 to 2014. Rural areas of states that were hit by the opioid epidemic were disproportionately affected.
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“If I overlayed a map of the United States and looked at rates of newborn opioid withdrawal after birth, it would be very similar,” lead author Stephen Patrick, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said. “We suspect this is highly linked to the opioid epidemic.”
Injection drug use is the major risk factor for contracting the virus. From 2010 to 2015, the number of new hepatitis C virus infections reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention almost tripled. People infected with hepatitis C don’t experience symptoms, the estimation being that half of them don’t even know they are infected. If left untreated, it can cause liver disease and can be fatal.
The report noted that hepatitis C infections in pregnant women increased by 89%, from 1.8 to 3.4 cases per 1,000 live births between 2009 and 2014. This would mean that 35 infants a day are exposed to the virus. The study was published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The researchers also found that the risk for hepatitis C grew in the case of women who smoked cigarettes during pregnancy and for those who were also infected with hepatitis B.
“Women need treatment and they can’t get treatment during pregnancy,” Patrick said. “One strategy to prevent transmission would be to screen and target women of reproductive age before they get pregnant and if they’re infected to treat them before pregnancy.”
The authors of the study also emphasized how important it is for infants exposed to hepatitis C to be monitored in case they get the virus and need special care.
Patrick said: “Providers need to be aware of this increased risk of hepatitis C in pregnant women and so that they are testing for it, especially in high prevalence areas. More broadly, as we think about our response to the opioid epidemic, it’s just another reason why we need to have a public health approach that focuses on primary prevention of opioid use before it even becomes a problem and expansion of treatment.”
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