Rates of hepatitis C among young people increase across Alaska

The number of hepatitis C cases reported among younger Alaskans has increased dramatically, particularly in Southeast Alaska, according to the latest information from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.

Between 2011 and 2015, the rate of hepatitis C infections reported in people between ages 18 and 29 skyrocketed by 490 percent in Southeast Alaska, followed by a 270 percent increase in Southwest and 267 percent increase in Northern Alaska, according to the state's epidemiology bulletin released last week.

The report comes as health officials try to deal with an outbreak of heroin and opioid abuse in Alaska that has already resulted in a sharp increase in overdose deaths.

Hepatitis C is most often spread by sharing dirty needles. States across the country have reported increases in the blood-borne infection among people who inject opioids and heroin, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The contagious infection ranges from a mild to a serious, lifelong illness and left untreated, it can lead to liver damage, liver failure, cancer and death. There are several medications and new treatments available to treat chronic hepatitis C, the CDC said.

Louisa Castrodale, an Alaska epidemiologist, said health officials have not interviewed each young Alaskan with hepatitis C reported in 2015, so they cannot pinpoint what has caused the unprecedented uptick — whether it's mostly due to drug use or a heightened awareness of testing for the virus, which can sit unnoticed in a person's body for years.

"I think probably both are at play," Castrodale said Thursday, though she said health officials are cognizant of the explosive increase in prescription opioid and heroin use across the country and its connection to a rise in hepatitis C. She said the recent data "makes us really concerned that we're seeing that phenomenon here as well."

Last year, 36 people died from heroin in Alaska and 83 from prescription opioids. The number of Alaskans who reported using heroin in the past year quadrupled between 2002 and 2013, according to state data released in 2015.

Castrodale said the state is seeing a shift in the age group infected with hepatitis C. Historically, the majority of cases were reported among people born from 1945 to 1965. Many older people with the infection got it from blood transfusions before 1992, before blood donations were screened for the virus. Now, the infection is seen more and more among younger people who abuse drugs and share syringes.

In 2011, 22 percent of all hepatitis C cases were reported 18 to 29 year olds and 44 percent of cases were in Alaskans ages 50 and older. In 2015, those percentages were 31 and 38, respectively.

Last week's health bulletin said efforts to decrease infections spread by injection drug use, including syringe exchange programs, are needed.