Credit: As the CDC also notes, needle or syringe sharing, needlesticks in the health care setting, or being born to a mother who had hepatitis C are the most common ways of spreading the disease, though less common methods, such as sharing personal care items like a razor, or through sexual contact with an infected person can also potentially spread the disease.
As the CDC also notes, needle or syringe sharing, needlesticks in the health care setting, or being born to a mother who had hepatitis C are the most common ways of spreading the disease, though less common methods, such as sharing personal care items like a razor, or through sexual contact with an infected person can also potentially spread the disease.
Here's the good news
The above data isn't very encouraging. If anything the prospect of living with a potentially deadly disease which can manifest and spread over time without you knowing it can be borderline scary. However, there's good news as well.
Though I tend to shy away from using the word "cure" as it doesn't clear up all cases of hepatitis C, there is a relatively new drug on pharmacy shelves in the U.S. that has a very high success rate of eradicating hepatitis C in many patients. In addition, there are considerably easier methods now that patients can use to find out whether or not they're infected with hepatitis C. In other words, with better diagnostic equipment and improved pharmaceutical products, it's possible that in a decade or two we'll no longer be talking about hepatitis C as a lethal disease.
Let's have a quick look at two companies at the forefront of its potential eradication.
Leading the charge
On the diagnostic front OraSure Technologies is leading the charge with its extremely rapid OraQuick antibody test. Using a fingerstick's worth of blood, the OraQuick device allows health care providers to deliver a positive or negative hepatitis C diagnosis to patients in just 20 minutes.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Here's what really matters
Hepatitis C may not be on many people's radar because of the relatively slow progression of the disease, but it clearly affects a sizable percentage of the global population, and even more importantly, millions are clueless they have the disease. It would appear we now have the tools necessary to combat the disease as long as medical organization worldwide work together to combat this hepatitis C. With Ebola taking precedence at the moment that might be tough. However, over time I strongly believe we'll see a concerted effort to boost testing around the globe as well as increase access to these life-saving medications.
Soon we could be living in a world without hepatitis C. At least that's my hope.
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The article 180 Million People Have This Disease, Yet Few Are Aware of It originally appeared on Fool.com.
Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen nameTMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen nameTrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle@TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of, and recommends Gilead Sciences. It also recommends Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days . We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .
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