TRIBUNE REVIEW | BY DEBRA ERDLEY | 11.30.16
As the opioid epidemic took root in rural Pennsylvania a decade ago, sending overdose fatality rates soaring in Westmoreland and surrounding counties, another serious health threat bubbled up.
Hepatitis C, a potentially fatal liver disease, increased by more than eight-fold in the 10-county Southwestern Pennsylvania region — climbing from 335 cases in 2003 to 2,818 in 2014, the latest year for which figures are available from the state Department of Health. The spike in intravenous drug use and shared needles helped the blood-borne disease spread rapidly.
In Westmoreland County, hepatitis C cases skyrocketed from 42 to 354 during that time.
Those numbers, coupled with the high cost of treating the disease, shocked some on the front lines of the opioid war.