Hepatitis C infection in Louisiana.

Estimating a prevalence of 1.8% of hepatitis C in the general population, there are in Louisiana about 81,000 individuals who have been infected with the hepatitis C virus. In 2002, the incidence of reported cases of acute hepatitis C was 2.2/100,000 versus 0.64 in the USA. The case register maintained by the Louisiana Office of Public Health has 22,000 cases. Building up a register of hepatitis C past or present infections is an important tool that may be used to resolve some important questions about the epidemiology of hepatitis C or be used for future preventive actions. Physicians and hospitals are encouraged to report hepatitis C infection including sufficient information to distinguish acute hepatitis C from hepatitis C past or present infection.