"At the Crossroads: The Rise of Hepatitis C and the Fight to Stop It"

Hepatitis C infects an estimated five million Americans, though most of them don’t know it. But deaths from hepatitis C are on the rise in baby boomers.

And throughout New England, new infections are creeping up among a younger generation.

Less than a year ago, their only options for treatment were complicated regimens of injections that didn’t always lead to a cure. But brand new drugs could change everything. That is, if the cost doesn’t break us.

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At The Crossroads: The Road Ahead For Hep C

Our months-long series about hepatitis C, "At the Crossroads: The Rise of Hepatitis C and the Fight to Stop It," has officially come to an end. We had a great public forum ("Hepatitis C: Cost, Cure, and Challenge") last night at Brown University, some key takeaways from which I'll share, below.

The stories continue
But first: the series may be over, but the stories of patients living with this chronic disease, the stories of people in the depths of addiction, putting themselves at risk of catching hepatitis C any time they share a needle or drug paraphernalia, the stories of doctors and nurses and public health workers and researchers on the front lines and in the trenches, fighting this disease, all those stories continue. And I'll keep you posted.

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At The Crossroads, Part 8: Fueled By Opioid Abuse, New Hep C Infections Rise

In 2014, hundreds of Rhode Islanders died from accidental drug overdoses.  Thousands more remain addicted to prescription painkillers and heroin. For those who inject the drugs, there’s another risk: hepatitis C.

In the final story in our series “At the Crossroads,” we meet a team of outreach workers determined to find new infections before it’s too late.

Listen to the podcast and read the transcript here....