Worldwide
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects an estimated 170 million persons worldwide and over 2 million persons in Japan¹

United States
Over 4million people in the United States are infected with hepatitis C²

General Facts

• An estimated 40,000 people were infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in 1998
• There are an estimated 3.9 million people who are or have been infected with hepatitis C, 2.7 million of whom are chronically infected; approximately 70% of people infected do not know they have the virus
• 8,000 - 10,000 people die of hepatitis C each year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that the number of annual deaths from hepatitis C will triple in the next 10 -20 years
• The estimated medical and work loss cost per year of hepatitis C in the U.S. is $600 million
• Approximately 5,000 liver transplants were performed in 2000. Because of the shortage of organs, it is estimated that nearly 1,700 prospective recipients died in 2001 while waiting for a liver for transplantation. There are currently over 18,000 people waiting for a liver transplant
• You are at a high risk of hepatitis C infection if you: were notified that you received blood from a donor who later tested positive for hepatitis C; have ever injected illegal drugs, even if you experimented a few times many years ago; received a blood transfusion or solid organ transplant before July, 1992; received a blood product for clotting problems produced before 1987; have ever been on long-term kidney dialysis; have received a tattoo or body piercing (although considered to be of a lesser degree of risk, contamination of needles is possible)
• Non-Hispanic African Americans have the highest infection rate for hepatitis C³
• Almost 4 million Americans, or 1.8 percent of the U.S. population, have antibody to HCV (anti-HCV), indicating ongoing or previous infection with the virus.
• The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the most important causes of chronic liver disease in the United States
• The virus accounts for about 15 percent of acute viral hepatitis, 60 to 70 percent of chronic hepatitis, and up to 50 percent of cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, and liver cancer.
• Hepatitis C causes an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 deaths annually in the United States⁴

Sources:

1. Higuchi M, Tanaka E, Kiyosawa K. Epidemiology and clinical aspects on hepatitis C, Jpn J Infect Dis 2002 Jun;55(3):69-77. Second Department of Internal Medicine, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Nagano 390-8621, Japan.
2. NIH Consensus Statement, Management of Hepatitis C, June 10 - 12, 2002, Vol. 19, No. 1
3. American Liver Founation
4. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
5. Number of Acute Clinical Cases Reported: For hepatitis A and hepatitis B, the number of cases reported to the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS). Cases of hepatitis C are also reported to NNDSS (3,866 cases in 2001) but are unreliable for monitoring trends in hepatitis C because these reports include cases based only on a positive laboratory test for anti-HCV, most of which represent chronic HCV infection. (CDC. Summary of Notifiable Diseases, United States, 2000, MMWR 2002;49(53)
6. Estimated Number of Clinical Cases and New infections: The ratio of reported acute cases to the total number of newly acquired infections occurring was estimated by catalytic modeling of seroprevalence data (from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III)) . Incidence estimates adjusted for underreporting and asymptomatic infections were then calculated by multiplying the number of cases reported (for hepatitis A and hepatitis B, NNDSS data are used; for hepatitis C, Sentinel Counties Study of Viral Hepatitis data are used) by these ratios. HAV: Armstrong GL et al, Pediatrics 2002, 109(5):839-845; HCV: Armstrong GL et al. Hepatology 2000, 31:777-782.
7. Number of Persons with Chronic Infection: HBV: Margolis HS, Coleman PJ, Brown RE, et al. Prevention of hepatitis B virus transmission by immunization: An economic analysis of current recommendations. JAMA 1995; 274(15): 1201 - 1208. HCV: Alter MJ et al. Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the United States, 1988 through 1994. NEJM 1999; 341:556-562.
8. †. Estimated Annual Number of Chronic Liver : Estimated number of chronic liver disease deaths are for the year 1990. HBV: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Protection against Viral Hepatitis. MMWR 1990; 39(RR-2). HCV: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recommendations for the prevention and control of hepatitis C virus infection and HCV-related chronic disease. MMWR 1998; 47(RR-19):1-39.
9. ‡. Percent ever infected: Prevalence estimates for HAV, HBV and HCV come from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey HAV: CDC. Prevention of Hepatitis A through active or passive immunization. MMWR 1999; 48: RR-12. HBV: McQuillan GM, et al. Prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection in the United States: The National Health and Nutrition and Examination Surveys, 1976 through 1994. AJPH 1999; 89(1)14-18. HCV: Alter MJ et al. Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the United States, 1988 through 1994. NEJM 1999; 341:556-562.

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