Sponsored by Quest Diagnostics
Includes complimentary CEUs
Hepatitis C (HCV) is a life-threatening form of liver disease that has infected one in 30 baby boomers. People can live with hepatitis C for decades without knowing they are infected; this puts their lives considerably at risk. If the virus is diagnosed in time, through a simple, single blood test, it can be cured. Most baby boomers are unaware that they are at such high risk. Professionals and clinicians can learn what they can do to inform their clients of the risks and the need to be screened—help that can save lives.
Participants in this web seminar will be able to:
- Understand that baby boomers born 1945 through 1965 are five times more likely to be infected with hepatitis C than other adults;
- Describe why most baby boomers are unaware they are infected with hepatitis C;
- Understand that hepatitis C symptoms could be dormant in people for decades and, if left untreated, could lead to serious liver conditions such as cancer and liver failure; and
- Describe that diagnosing hepatitis C requires only a simple one-time blood test and, for people who test positive, there are available treatments and the potential for a cure.
Presenters:
Alisha Norcross is Director, Medical Science Liaison-Infectious Disease & Immunology, and serves in the primary role of field clinical consultant for infectious disease and immunodiagnostics at Quest Diagnostics. Her specific focus is in the area of HIV and HCV screening and care.
Andrew Reynolds is the Hepatitis C Education Manager at Project Inform. He currently helps facilitate HCV support groups, manages a national hepatitis C phone line, and oversees Project Inform’s other related HCV educational efforts.
Robin Roth, cured of hepatitis C, is an advocate and activist in the movement to eliminate HCV. She is co-chair of the San Francisco Hepatitis C Task Force, serves on the steering committees of End Hep C SF and the California Hepatitis Alliance, and is a longtime faculty member of the Health Education Department at City College of San Francisco.