Rising Rates of Hepatitis C Infection in Women of Childbearing Age

Injectable drug use is the most common route of hepatitis C acquisition — and in the current opioid epidemic, infection rates are escalating. The CDC reports that during 2011–2014, rates of hepatitis C detection in U.S. women of childbearing age (range,15–44) increased 22%, hepatitis C testing of children aged ≤2 years increased 14%, and the proportion of children born to hepatitis C–infected women rose from 0.19% to 0.32%. Vertical transmission of hepatitis C occurs in 5.8% of infants born to infected women.

In Kentucky, a state particularly affected by drug use, rates of hepatitis C detection in women of childbearing age increased 3-fold, and testing of children for hepatitis C increased 2.5-fold. Concurrently, the proportion of infants bo…