Narrator: This is Science Today. There are three common types of Hepatitis – namely, A, B and C. Hepatitis A is a mild illness, which people usually get from contaminated food. Hepatitis B is more severe and can lead to a chronic disease that can be acquired sexually, perinatally or through sharing needles. And finally, there’s Hepatitis C, a chronic infection, which is usually acquired through injection drug use.

Bangsberg: About ninety percent of people who will use injection drugs will become infected with Hepatitis C.

Narrator: Dr. David Bangsberg, director of the University of California, San Francisco’s Epidemiology and Prevention Interventions Center, has conducted a study of HIV-infected urban poor in San Francisco.

Bangsberg: The main finding was that Hepatitis C is very common. Seventy percent of the people have a Hepatitis C infection and that while Hepatitis C was very common, Hepatitis C treatment was very rare and among those people with Hepatitis C infection and HIV infection, only four percent of those individuals received Hepatitis C treatment.

Narrator: For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.