Hepatitis C Raging Through Prisons
AP REPORT
The most dangerous thing coming out of prison these days might be something most convicts don't even know they have: hepatitis C.Nobody knows how many inmates have the disease; by some estimates, about 40 percent of the 2.2 million in jail and prison are infected, compared with 2 percent of the overall population.
Eventually, when these inmates are released, medical experts predict they will be a crushing burden on the health care system, perhaps killing as many people as AIDS in years to come. At the same time, they will be carriers, spreading the disease.
Hepatitis C can be treated, but many prisons do not test for it. Among the reasons: Budgets are tight and treatment is expensive. So prison officials close their eyes to the gathering emergency and pass it along to the outside world.
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