JACKSON — The Mississippi State Department of Health is offering free Hepatitis C testing at all county health departments in May.
State Epidemiologist Dr. Thomas Dobbs says in a news release that people born between 1945 and 1965 are five times more likely to be infected with Hepatitis C and may not know it.
Hepatitis C can cause liver damage, cirrhosis, liver cancer and even death.
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne disease transmitted through needle sticks, IV drug use and blood transfusions before 1992. It can also be transmitted through sexual contact or from mother to child at birth.
Testing is recommended for anyone with a history of injection drug use, blood transfusion or organ transplantation or those born to a mother with Hepatitis C.
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