WVU in the News: Hepatitis C numbers soar in Kanawha following syringe exchange closure
A new case of hepatitis C was reported nearly every eight hours in Kanawha County last year.
The number of men and women diagnosed in 2018 with the infectious disease soared in the months after the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department closed its public syringe exchange earlier that same year.
Hepatitis C, a virus that can lead to liver cancer or early death if left untreated, is commonly contracted through sharing needles.
Director of the Preventative Medicine Residency Program and Medical Officer for the WVU Injury Control Research Center Dr. Michael Brumage and Department of Epidemiology Assoicate Professor Robin Pollini, PhD, offer insight in a recent Charleston Gazette-Mail article about the closure of Kanawha County's syringe exchange program.