The fast-growing epidemic of opioid abuse, which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), led to a tripling of overdose deaths between 2010 and 2014, has also begun to threaten young mothers and their babies with liver-destroying hepatitis C virus (HCV). Public health researchers warned this week that "[i]ncreases in the rate of HCV detection among women of childbearing age suggest a potential risk for vertical transmission of HCV."

Alaya Koneru, MPH, and colleagues report in the July 22 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that the national rate of hepatitis C infection among women of childbearing age (15 - 44 years old) increased by 22% from 2011 to 2014, and that the rate of infants born to HCV-infected women increased by 68%. Past or current injection drug use was reported by 38% of the HCV-infected women in Kentucky, the state with the highest rate of new HCV infections.

The authors write, "CDC recommends HCV testing for persons with a history of injection drug use and others at risk, including persons infected with HIV and persons with recognized exposures (e.g., health care workers after needle sticks or mucosal exposure to HCV-positive blood). It is important that providers assess women of childbearing age, particularly pregnant women, for HCV risk and test accordingly. CDC also recommends HCV testing of children born to HCV-infected women."

The American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition have all issued clinical guidance 

Two coauthors are employees of Quest Diagnostics. The other authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.