Hepatitis C blood test for all baby boomers, U.S. panel urges

Hepatitis C is a liver-damaging disease that can live in the body for decades before it causes serious health problems. That's why a U.S. panel of medical experts is now urging older Americans to get a one-time blood test to see if they have the infection.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued recommendations Tuesday for all adults born between 1945 and 1965, the "Baby Boomers," to get tested for hepatitis C. The panel pointed out the recommendation comes at a time of rising disease rates among this age group.

"Baby boomers account for three out of four people with hepatitis C," Task Force co-chair Dr. Albert Siu, professor and chair of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, said in a news release. "Many people in this age group contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion or unknown or unreported high-risk behaviors. Even though they may have no symptoms yet, the evidence is convincing that one-time screening will help find millions of Americans with the infection before they develop a serious liver disease."

The Task Force also urged adults who are current or past users of injectable drugs or those who received a blood transfusion before 1992 to get a hepatitis C blood test.

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by a virus that can range in severity from a short-term infection (acute) to a serious lifelong illness (chronic). The disease can't be prevented with a vaccine or cured. Many people won't have symptoms, but some could have dark urine, fatigue, loss of appetite, yellowing of the skin (jaundice), abdominal pain or nausea, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

If a person developed hepatitis C decades earlier following a blood transfusion or injecting a drug, a person could be at risk for cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer, explained Dr. Alex Federman, an associate professor of medicine at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City to CBSNews.com. He was not involved in the panel's new guidance.