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Health authorities are warning that viral hepatitis may affect thousands of baby boomers.

Officials want to raise awareness the potentially deadly illness that can cause liver disease or cancer, and how to avoid it.

“Cases of acute and chronic hepatitis C in Pierce County are on a dramatic rise,” said Kim Desmarais, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department’s viral hepatitis coordinator. “Before 2013, we saw up to five cases a year. Now we see up to five a month.”

People who are most at risk for hepatitis C include everyone born between 1945 and 1965 – baby boomers. They should get a one-time test for the illness because that age group is five times more likely to have hepatitis C than the general population, officials say.

King County health officials give the same advice. According to Seattle-King County Public Health, tens of thousands of baby boomers there are protecting their health by getting a “hep C” test.

Hepatitis inflames the liver, which can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Usually, these problems occur after many years of infection with chronic hepatitis. Different viruses cause different types of hepatitis, which spread in unique ways.

Seattle-King County health officials say the reason baby boomers are so susceptible to hepatitis C isn’t completely understood. Researchers think that most baby boomers were infected in the 1970s and 1980s, when rates were the highest. Many baby boomers could have gotten infected from contaminated blood and blood products before widespread screening of the blood supply began in 1992.

In response to the increase in cases in Pierce County, the Health Department works with medical providers and community partners to report, test, and manage patients with hepatitis C. Desmaris said the department also works to make sure the patients understand ways to stop the spread of the virus and find treatment options for hepatitis and drug addiction.

Drug use by injection spreads hepatitis C.

Reports the Health Department receives of new cases are just the tip of the iceberg, according to Desmaris. Many people with the infection may not know they have it. The department estimates the new cases reported monthly in Pierce County represent fewer than 10 percent of the actual total.

According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as many as 3.9 million Americans have hepatitis C, but only half know they’re infected. The number of people who have had hepatitis C for a long time but are just now finding out has increased because of a recommendation for doctors to routinely test people in the baby boomer generation.

The use of heroin and other illegal drugs through injection are factors in the nationwide increase of hepatitis C cases, according to the CDC. Shared drugs and syringes spread the infection.

In a 2015 survey, the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute asked 77 needle exchange participants in Pierce County which drugs they injected. The majority (74 percent) said heroin, and 22 percent said methamphetamine. When the UW researchers looked at survey results from 18 needle exchange programs in the state, including Pierce County, researchers found 69 percent injected heroin and 22 percent injected methamphetamine.

Healthcare professionals can treat and cure hepatitis C in as little as eight weeks with very few side-effects, according to health officials. In the past, however, medication wasn’t as effective, took almost a year to work, and caused severe side-effects, so many patients decided not to take them.

Officials said people with previously diagnosed hepatitis C should ask their doctor for a referral to a specialist who can evaluate them for the newer treatment.

Additional information about viral hepatitis is available from Kim Desmarais, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department’s viral hepatitis coordinator, at 253-798-7681, at www.tpchd.org/hep,m and Seattle-King County Public Health’s Hepatitis Test and Cure team at 206-263-2017.

srmedia by — June 28, 2017 in Health & Fitness

If you were to ask a typical Washingtonian how to fix healthcare in America, you can be sure he or she would not suggest that Washington, D.C. allow insurance companies to price people out of affordable coverage. Yet Congress is now considering the American Health Care Act — a bill that would do just that. The bill would impose an “age tax” on older Americans.  That means people in their 50s and 60s who are buying health insurance on their own might have to pay up to $8,400 per year more than they do now.

Right now, insurance companies are allowed to charge people over three times what other people have to pay. If this legislation passed, insurance companies could charge older Americans five times (or more) what other people have to pay.

Such a policy change fails to take into consideration that a typical older American seeking private health insurance has a median annual income of under $25,000. Having to pay thousands more for health insurance could force many to make hard choices between food, medicine, housing and other basic necessities.

In addition to increasing what insurance companies can charge, the legislation also reduces tax credits that help older Americans with low and moderate incomes pay for their health care premiums.  The legislation could price more than 3 million older Americans age 50 to 64 out of health insurance.  It could erode gains made under the current healthcare law, which cut in half the number of older Americans without insurance. 

Shamefully, the legislation would allow insurance companies to overcharge older Americans while giving $200 billion in tax breaks to big drug and insurance companies.  That’s the wrong way to fix our healthcare system.

The legislation also includes other provisions that would harm older Americans. It would:

  • Weaken Medicare by causing Medicare’s trust fund to dry up four years earlier than forecast, leaving the door open for a voucher system to replace its guaranteed protections.  A voucher system would dramatically increase healthcare costs and risks for current and future retirees.  It could cost seniors thousands of dollars out of their pockets at a time in their lives when they can least afford it.
  • End the guarantee of coverage for people who receive care in nursing homes and those whose families depend on Medicaid to help seniors and people with disabilities live independently in their homes.
  • Do nothing to lower drug costs. According to Kantar Media, the drug industry spent $5.4 billion in advertising in 2015, while year after year drug costs far outpace inflation. It’s time to let Medicare negotiate lower drug prices and reduce barriers to global price competition by allowing for the safe importation of lower-priced drugs. There is no reason for Americans to continue paying the highest prescription drug prices in the world.

Healthcare costs are out of control. But this bill would mean higher prices, less coverage, and billions in tax breaks for big drug and insurance companies.

Washingtonians need a healthcare system that lowers costs, protects consumers, and offers everyone access to quality care. AARP is ready to work with members of both political parties on responsible ways to move forward.  If you agree, please tell your elected representatives to vote a resounding “No” on the American Health Care Act.

 

Mike Tucker, who wrote this article, is president of AARP Washington.

Contributing Author by — June 11, 2017 in Health & Fitness

Colorectal cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women in the United States and the second-leading cause in men, but it doesn’t need to be. In fact, it’s one of the few cancers that can be prevented by appropriate screening.

“Colonoscopies are life-saving, preventive tests,” says Dr. Kevin Leung, a gastroenterologist with Digestive Health Specialists who performs colonoscopies at MultiCare Covington Medical Center.

A colonoscopy can reduce the risk of death from colorectal cancer by more than 50 percent, yet only one-third of adults are getting screened.

Because colorectal cancer typically doesn’t have any symptoms, a colonoscopy is the only way to find the disease while it’s still treatable.

“Colorectal cancer discovered early in its course is completely curable, and the only way to do that is to get screened,” says Dr. Eric Johnson, a colon and rectal surgeon with MultiCare Colon and Rectal Surgery.

Starting at age 50, men and women should get a colonoscopy every 10 years, unless they’re at high risk for colorectal cancer or have a condition that needs to be monitored.

Is the procedure really as bad as its reputation would suggest? In a nutshell, no. Yet fears and misconceptions persist. Here are the top five:

  1. Colonoscopies aren’t safe — and they might hurt.

One of the most common concerns people have is that something will go wrong during a colonoscopy.
“It’s one of the safest procedures that we do,” says Johnson.

“Colonoscopies aren’t painful, just inconvenient,” says Leung. “With current medications, people are quite comfortable.”

A colonoscopy is a benign procedure performed in an outpatient setting, and only takes about 20–30 minutes. Most patients are mildly sedated and don’t feel any pain.

  1. I’m afraid to get a colonoscopy in case I get diagnosed with cancer.

“A colonoscopy in no way increases your chances of being diagnosed with cancer,” says Leung. “But it can prevent cancer by finding polyps.”

Although one of the aims of colonoscopy is to detect colorectal cancer, the primary purpose is to detect polyps — small growths on the surface of the colon — that could become cancerous. These polyps occur in about 30 percent of the population.

During a colonoscopy, a long, flexible tube is inserted into the anus to examine the entire rectum and colon with a viewing scope. If polyps are detected, they are easily removed while the procedure is taking place to prevent cancer from occurring.

  1. It’s too embarrassing.

Physicians and nurses understand that a colonoscopy is a potentially embarrassing experience for patients and do all they can to make them comfortable — from providing a curtain for undressing, a private room, blankets to stay warm and covered, and the option of selecting a male or female physician.

It can also help to remember that physicians perform thousands of colonoscopies each year and consider the colon the same way they would any other organ.

  1. I won’t be able to drink the prep solution.

The purpose of prep solution is to cleanse the colon so that even the smallest of polyps can be identified and removed during the colonoscopy.

Once upon a time, patients were required to drink a gallon of prep solution the day before the procedure.
Today, most patients drink small-volume preps in split doses – one taken the night before and one the morning of the colonoscopy. This approach is much easier on patients.

  1. I’ll have to take a lot of time off work.

Most people only need to miss one day of work for a colonoscopy.

“The prep time is not usually time you can be productive,” says Leung. But, he points out, you can usually wait until the evening to take the first dose of prep solution, so missing work the day before is not usually necessary.

The day of the colonoscopy is spent at the clinic and recovering from sedation at home, but there are typically no ill effects from the procedure. Most people return to work the next day.

Bottom line: Don’t skip out on screening. According to the American Cancer Society, the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is about 5 percent for men and 4.5 percent for women. “That doesn’t sound like much,” says Leung, “But that’s a 1 in 20 chance.”

 

This article was produced by MultiCare Health System, a not-for-profit healthcare organization with services in Pierce,

If you haven’t already, make a date to undergo a potentially life-saving colonoscopy.

King, Thurston and Kitsap counties.

srmedia by — May 3, 2017 in Health & Fitness

At least 17 people in Pierce County, most of them seniors, have died from the flu during the current influenza season that health officials have declared an epidemic.

The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department reported in January that the flu fatalities occurred primarily among people 60 to 90 years old who had underlying health issues. The only non-adult victim was a 10-year-old.

In King County, eight flu deaths reported as of January made the current flu season there moderate to severe, according to public health officials.

The illness is resulting in flu-related hospitalizations and deaths at a much higher rate than last year in Pierce County. During the 2015-2016 season, 15 Pierce County residents died of flu, and 25 such deaths occurred in the 2014-2015 season.

Flu seasons generally are from October to April.

The current 2016-17 flu season “is shaping up to be especially bad for elderly people,” said Matthew Rollosson, a nurse epidemiologist at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

In addition to seniors, people who health officials advise are most at-risk of serious complications from the flu are children younger than 5 years old, pregnant women, and anyone who has diabetes, asthma or other chronic conditions.

The best protection against the flu is washing your hands regularly and getting a yearly flu shot.

Flu activity typically peaks between December and March, but it can last as late as May.

srmedia by — April 19, 2017 in Health & Fitness