“Chalk up another potential consequence of the U.S. opioid epidemic: The prevalence of hepatitis C infections among pregnant women nearly doubled between 2009 and 2014, U.S. health officials report.
Hepatitis C — which is caused most often by injection drug use — rose 89 percent nationwide among pregnant women. Increases were most notable in West Virginia and rural counties in Tennessee, areas hard-hit by the heroin and prescription painkiller epidemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Nationwide, 35 infants a day were exposed to the contagious liver disease, on average, study authors said.”
Read more at: http://health.usnews.com/health-care/articles/2017-05-11/high-rates-of-hepatitis-c-in-pregnancy-mirror-opioid-epidemic-cdc
Source: USNews.com – May 11, 2017
