Testimony of Gary A. Roselle,
M. D. Program Director for Infectious Diseases Veterans Health
Administration Department of Veterans Affairs Before the Subcommittee
on Benefits Committee on Veterans’ Affairs U.S. House
of Representatives April 13, 2000 state one in 10 US veterans
are infected with HCV, a rate five times greater than the
1.8% infection rate of the general population. A study conducted
by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and involving
26,000 veterans shows that up to 10 percent of all veterans
in the VHA system tested positive for hepatitis C.
Of the total number of persons who were hepatitis C antibody
positive and reported an era of service,
62.7% were noted to be from
the Vietnam era. The second most frequent group is
listed as post-Vietnam at 18.2%,
followed by 4.8% Korean conflict, 4.3%
post-Korean conflict, 4.2% from WWII, and 2.7% Persian Gulf
era veterans.
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