What people living with hepatitis C need to know about COVID-19

Hepatitis C infections tripled in the U.S. from 2009 - 2018, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to update screening recommendations that include all adults and pregnant women. This increase is especially concerning, since people who have existing chronic medical issues may be at higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19.

"Hepatitis C is another RNA virus, actually not that different from coronavirus in some ways," says Dr. Stacey Rizza, an infectious diseases specialist at Mayo Clinic. "It behaves very differently in humans, and it is a different virus. But anybody who has a chronic medical condition would be at greater risk of having a severe reaction to the coronavirus."

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