Those people shouldn't panic, stressed Dr. Louis Katz of the the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center, who advised the government on the campaign. A few hospitals, including some in Wisconsin and Minnesota, already have begun tracking down at-risk transfusion recipients. But most were awaiting guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, issued Thursday, so doctors would have the best advice for worried patients. Once the hospitals have traced everybody they can, the CDC said Thursday it will launch an advertising campaign next year to urge even more people to be tested. Hepatitis C, which kills up to 10,000 Americans each year, is the most common blood-borne infection in the United States and the leading reason for liver transplants.
Some people overcome the virus without medical help.
But 85 percent develop a chronic, simmering infection that they can spread to others. Most of them will suffer at least some liver damage, especially if they also drink alcohol, and 15 percent will develop severe damage. Sharing intravenous drug needles is the chief source of hepatitis C, causing 60 percent of cases. An estimated 300,000 Americans were infected from transfusions before 1992, the year that accurate testing of blood donors began. Today, the risk from transfusions is very small.