Hepatitis Testing Day – May 19

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month and May 19th is National Hepatitis Testing Day in the United States. Millions of Americans have chronic viral hepatitis and most of them do not know they are infected. Hepatitis Testing Day is an opportunity to remind health care providers and the public who should be tested for viral hepatitis.

Four Things You Should Know About Viral Hepatitis:

1. Hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C are all different diseases.
   Each type of hepatitis is caused by a different virus and spread in different ways. Hepatitis A does not cause a long-term infection, although it can make people very sick. Hepatitis B and hepatitis C can become chronic, life-long infections and lead to serious health problems.
2. Chronic hepatitis is a leading cause of liver cancer.
   Chronic hepatitis B and C can cause serious damage to the liver, including liver damage, cirrhosis, and even liver cancer.  In fact, more than 60 percent of liver cancer cases are related to hepatitis B or C.
3. Most people with chronic hepatitis do not know they are infected.
   More than four million Americans are living with chronic hepatitis in the United States, but most do not know they are infected. Many people live with chronic hepatitis for decades without symptoms or feeling sick.
4. Getting tested could save your life.
   Lifesaving treatments are available for chronic hepatitis B and new treatments are available that can cure hepatitis C  Still, getting tested is the only way to know if you are infected. Take CDC’s Hepatitis Risk Assessment to see if you should be tested for viral hepatitis.

Support the Be #HepAware Thunderclap on May 19^th

To further raise awareness and promote Hepatitis Testing Day, please consider participating in & supporting the Be #HepAware Thunderclap on May 19th at 12:00 p.m. EDT/9:00 a.m. PDT. Thunderclap is a tool that allows supporters to sign up in advance and share a unified message simultaneously across social media platforms to create a wave or “thunderclap”. We need 100 supporters for the Thunderclap to take effect, so please visit http://thndr.me/UtWAFY to sign up and share the information widely with your followers as well! Contact Amanda Carnes, ccarnes@cdc.gov for more details.

Joining the Be #HepAware Thunderclap is easy:

• Choose “Support with Twitter”, “Support with Facebook”, and/or “Support with Tumblr” to join in this message with CDC.
• Authorize Thunderclap to use your account to send out a one-time post on May 19th.
• After you sign up, get the word out to your followers and ask them for their support.
• Watch on May 19th at 12:00 p.m. EDT/9:00 a.m. PDT as we raise awareness of viral hepatitis and help others be #HepAware!

Get Involved & Stay Connected

• Check out our resource center for free tools and ideas on how to get involved with Hepatitis Awareness Month and Hepatitis Testing Day.
• Join the conversation on hepatitis by following @cdchep on Twitter and use hashtags #HepAware, #HepTestingDay, and #hepatitis.
• Sign up for email updates from CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis.

More Information

• Hepatitis Risk Assessment
• CDC Viral Hepatitis Homepage
• Know More Hepatitis campaign
• Know Hepatitis B campaign