The families of the estimated
51,000 infected veterans not diagnosed yet are in for
a rough ride.
The “Liver Meeting 2013” conference in DC ends tomorrow. The sponsor of the meeting, the American Association of the Study of Liver Diseases(AASLD), released a press release (11/3/13) on the research of Lisa Backus, M.D., Ph.d. from the VA. As the excerpt below states, the VA believes that 51,000 veterans have yet to be diagnosed with HCV. That’s a massive number.
Researchers at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) studied the health records of 5,500,392 veterans. Of those, 64.2 percent of baby boomers and 54.7 percent overall — or more than 2.9 million — had at least one VA screening for HCV. Of those screened, 9.9 percent of the baby boomers had HCV infection, compared with 1.7 percent of those born before 1945 and 1.1 percent of those born after 1965.
After extrapolating the infection data to the veterans not yet screened, researchers concluded that up to 51,000 more veterans of the baby boomer generation could be identified with HCV. The VA has been a leader in adopting new care models such as telehealth and Specialty Care Access Network-Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (SCAN ECHO) in order to expand the VA capacity to take care of any additional veterans identified as having HCV infection through expanded screening.
The story was picked up today by AIDSMAP. Although the accusation that thousands upon thousands of Vietnam-era veterans injected drugs continues to be repeated ad nauseam in the media, at least the AIDSMAP article mentions jet injectors (air guns) in the 2nd paragraph of this excerpt.
US military veterans of the baby-boom generation form a population at higher-than-average risk of hepatitis C. Hepatitis C prevalence is higher in adults born between 1945 and 1965 due to higher levels of injecting drug use and greater lifetime risk of exposure to blood transfusions containing hepatitis C compared to those born after 1965.
Veterans may be at especially high risk of hepatitis C infection due to high levels of injecting drug use among the population that served during the Vietnam War era and blood exposure in battle or medical settings. Tattooing and transmission through use of airguns for vaccination during military service are difficult to quantify as sources of infection, but many veterans – particularly those who did not see active service in Vietnam – believe these routes explain their infection with hepatitis C.
Soldiers at the bottom of Hamburger Hill (Hill 937) in Vietnam 10-20 May 1969
Keith Alcorn’s article, Need for expansion of hepatitis C screening among veterans, ‘baby-boom’ generation and pregnant women highlighted, is welcome. But repeating the IVDU canard is not. Accusation is not evidence. It’s a diversionary tactic to “explain” away the cluster of service-connected HCV infections. Vietnam veterans were fulfilling their missions and trying to staying alive. A shocking 58,286 died doing America’s hardest job–the work of war. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation NJ) reminds us that many more have died as the result of the war from HCV, AO, emotional and physical injuries. To accuse hundreds of thousands of veterans of spending their few hours of rest, giddily injecting drugs, is a grave insult to this much maligned group of heroes.
Ed. note: An interesting side note is the plethora of draftees who were pulled into this against their will. Certainly, some of these were unsavory characters who may have engaged in the practice of IVDU but their presence in a shot line using a pneumatic air injection device is all it would take to propagate the hepatitis C virus. No study of troops based on a subset of basic training has ever been accomplished nor will it ever occur.
Having been to VA medical centers, I can tell you first hand the queer looks I get when I mention my HCV. Reiterating the history of the infection via a transfusion for a GSW is greeted with the rolling of the eyeballs. I no longer try to set the record straight. Of course, I no longer go to the VAMC anymore either so it is a moot point.
asknod
Bethanie Spangenberg
kcraveiro
robinhoodesqvetsatty
Wesley McCauley
Veterans Claims Help 
The picture you have of a battle in Vietnam taken by Henri Huet is labeled incorrectly. The battle has nothing to do with Hamburger Hill or 1969. The battle was a part of Operations Billings and was called the battle of Xom Bo I and happened on June 14, 1967. The men in the picture are from Bravo Company of the 1/16th (Rangers) part of the Big Red One (1st Infantry Division) Six men were killed in the battle and 16 more were wounded – the battle was a prelude to the battle of Xom Bo II where 37 men were killed and 150 more wounded. PLEASE change the label to your picture to reflect where and who fought the battle. The men killed in that battle were: SP4 Glendon Barnett, Richard Brown, Frank Giacobello, SSG Robert Thompson and 2 Lt Robert Roush. RIP
If I can prove that the drug use accusation is BS, will you give me a backpack or a Tshirt?
According to a study done on 107,803 soldiers stationed in Korea from 1067 to 1969, .a total of 467 developed hepatitis with jaundice (turned yellow) and were hospitalized.
How many of them do you think used drugs?
None! Zero…zip
The paper says…..”only a few patients had received transfusion within six months of the appearance of icterus and there was little evidence from the history and physical examination of the parenteral use of narcotics or habituating drugs among these hospitalized soldiers”.
My Source:
Endemic viral hepatitis in U.S. soldiers: Causative factors and the effect of prophylactic gamma globulin written by Dr Marcel E. Conrad, Director Division of Medicine, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research,
Click to access canmedaj01638-0039.pdf
Statisticians and academic researchers can gain access to VA medical data:
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/Support/FAQs.htm
http://www.virec.research.va.gov/Index.htm
Sounds kind of like the mentally challenged relative of that era that no one spoke about. If it was not mentioned then by association it did not exist.