High-risk adults, including injection drug users and those who received blood transfusions before 1992, should be screened for hepatitis C virus, according to new guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in the Annals of Internal Medicine. In addition, adults born from 1945 through 1965 (so-called baby boomers) should undergo one-time screening.

The USPSTF says anti-HCV antibody testing, followed by confirmatory polymerase chain reaction, is accurate for detection.

The guidance is an update from the task force’s 2004 statement, which found insufficient evidence for or against screening in high-risk patients. The CDC has recommended screening for high-risk adults since 1998, and recommended one-time screening for baby boomers last year.

Editorialists write: “The independently derived yet similar recommendations for HCV testing from the USPSTF and CDC send a clear signal to health care professionals … that screening for HCV is effective.”

Source: Annals of Internal Medicine