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To:  Secretary of Veterans Affairs

 

 

To:  Majority and Minority

 

Veterans Committee Members
Republican and Democratic Committees

 

 

From:  The Citizens of the United States of America

 

 

Retired Military and Veterans risked exposure to Hepatitis C virus through many different types of transmission methods that were specific to military service.

The lack of standard procedures, which included dental and medical care, reusable needles, syringes, jet gun injections, delivered from multi dose vials with contaminated blood based vaccines, are responsible for the epidemic among those that served.

Gary A. Roselle, M. D., Program Director for Infectious Diseases, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, state, "One in 10 US Veterans (2.6 million) are infected with HCV", a rate 5  times greater than the general population." 62.7% of the 2.6 million are veterans from the Vietnam era.

We call on our leaders for action, provide immediate testing, notification, and education of past and present military personnel and dependents to the many transmission methods that did, and continue to exist within the military environment. We call for routine testing during recruit induction and upon discharge from service for all armed forces.  

It is time to stop making these men and women prove "how" they contracted Hepatitis C. The countless insistences, involving the lack of standard procedures, remain the greatest risk factor for the majority infected.

Presumed Service Connect the past and present workforce infected with Hepatitis C.  

 

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References:

1.  NIH Consensus Statements Management of Hepatitis C: 2002 June 10-12, 2002  Vol. 19, No. 1 FINAL STATEMENT August 27,2002 HCV is the most common chronic blood-borne infection  develop cirrhosis 20 years after initial infection as high as 20 to 30 percent in middle-aged subjects......Of middle aged adults, 2.3%  of the population is infected with this virus http://consensus.nih.gov/cons/116/116cdc_intro.htm

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease Twenty percent of patients develop cirrhosis within 10 to 20 years of the onset of infection Liver failure from chronic hepatitis C is one of the most common reasons for liver transplants in the United States. Hepatitis C is the cause of about half of cases of primary liver cancer in the developed world. http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/digest/pubs/chrnhepc/chrnhepc.htm

(K70,K73–K74) National Vital Statistics Vol 49 No 11 Deaths: Leading Causes for 1999- by Robert N. Anderson, Ph.D. Division of Vital Statistics    Table 1 page 15 all races and both sexes, ages 25–34 years is the tenth leading causes of death.  For age 45–54, the sixth leading cause of death
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr49/nvsr49_11.pdf

2.  May 1, 2002, issue of Substance Use & Misuse, may indicate that use of drugs is not the only risk factor for HCV.

3.  Paediatric HIV Service, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
The authors conclude, “These results suggest that at least one third and up to a half of infected children acquired infection in utero.

J Mok and others (for the European Paediatric Hepatitis C Virus Network). When does mother to child transmission of hepatitis C virus occur? Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 90(2): F156-160. March 2005.

4.Arthur Caplan, Ph.D. the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability states
"The main reason for the drastic increase in severe hepatitis C-related liver disease--that means leading to transplant, leading to death--is that 90 percent of people with chronic hepatitis C don't know they have it."  http://www.hhs.gov/bloodsafety/transcripts/nov24_98.html
 
The American Liver foundation states- As many as 70% of those infected don’t know it http://www.liverfoundation.org/db/articles/1007
 
Because most persons with chronic HCV infection have yet to be diagnosed http://consensus.nih.gov/cons/116/091202116cdc_statement.htm


5. VA Study A comparison of hepatitis C treatment and outcomes at academic, private and Veterans' Affairs treatment centres D. M. Jensen*, S. J. Cotler*, H. Lam, G. Harb & A. Shillington§  .... End-of-treatment viral response for Veterans' Affairs centers, 17.2%http://hcvets.com/data/hcv_liver/va_clear_rate.htm
HCV Stats • census update times 2 % infection rate for the general public
 

 Please contact your representative and let them know what our veterans are going through, ask what they intend to do to stop it.

Contact Congress, the Media, plus, other important local, state and federal representatives.

Here's how!

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Home Methods Statements The Liver