The American Liver Foundation has a newly formed Veterans Council who have organized a national program of awareness of the potentially deadly disease Hepatitis C.
The Veteran's Council on Hepatitis C and Liver Disease is urging Veterans nationwide to get tested for Hepatitis C. It is reported that HCV is four to five times more prevalent among veterans than it is among the general public.
They have discovered, however, the bureaucracy at the Veterans Administration is somewhat overwhelming and that has ment that some of the Veterans medical coverage has faltered when it comes to getting many Veterans successfully tested.
The Veterans Council is making free in-home Hepatitis C test kits available to all U.S. veterans from Monday, July 3 through Sunday, July 9.
This important testing opportunity for veterans is the first program of ALF's Veterans Council, which held its inaugural meeting last week in Washington, DC. Several veterans service organizations (VSOs), experts in the field of Hepatitis C, and health professionals from within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) make up the Council.
These free test kits will be made available to veterans via the Internet and through a toll-free help line.
"Initiatives such as this free test program are vital for identifying and treating those who served our country and are infected with this disease," said Representative Vic Snyder (D-AR), who serves on the Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs committees, as well as the Veterans Affairs Health Subcommittee, when he addressed members of ALF's Veterans Council last week.
"I urge veterans to participate in this important program and applaud the American Liver Foundation's Veterans Council for making this program available when there is such great need."
A study conducted by the VHA, and involving 26,000 veterans, shows that 8 to 10 percent of all veterans in the VHA system tested positive for Hepatitis C. In this study, veterans who served in Vietnam accounted for more than 60 percent of those with positive test results.
The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by infected blood and many ways of getting infected have been identified. Combat and even military training often bring soldiers into contact with blood. Exposure to bleeding wounds or transfusions are other ways that soldiers can become infected. The injection of drugs and sexual contact with multiple partners are other risks. Tattoos applied with unsterile equipment and snorting drugs may also be risk factors.
The American Legion, AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Vietnam Veterans of America are co-sponsoring this testing program with the American Liver Foundation, and these organizations are also members of ALF's Veterans Council.
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