America's Biggest Social Issue - Social Media - Facing the Facebook Psychology

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When is a Social Issue a Social Issue?  When the media says so!

I've always been intrigued by the public perception of social issues.  What makes something a social issue in your eyes?  Why does a social issue become political?  Is it possible to ever solve a social Issue?

There are many social issues in America covering the entire spectrum of possibilities.  They range from child and female abuse to abortion, legalizing marijuana to poverty, gun control to contraceptives.

It is not often they come to the forefront of political campaigns but this year seems to be an exception.  The Republican primary and President Obama's White House have both raised social issues when they saw a political opportunity to exploit them, and that is rather common in politics.

How can social issues push the recession and economic recovery off the font pages?  Why are social issues dominating our national debate?  What makes health care reform more important than foreign aid or defense spending?

I believe it is the proliferation of social media like Facebook that drives the debate over social issues.  With social media everyone in American can comment on just about anything.  We no longer need to know what we are talking about or even back up what with say with facts.

Truth has been destroyed by unethical and predatory practices of the Internet masters who create all kinds of vehicles for expression but care less about the accuracy or validity of what is discussed.  These avenues of expression, free expression if you really want to buy the bull, are nothing more than ways to increase the ability of Internet service companies to bill clients for clicks.  I believe the driving force behind Internet use is greed, not good, profits, not progress and hits, clicks and cash.

Math & Methodology

But first of all let me qualify my interest.  Back during the Great Society days of President Lyndon Johnson I did some work for the US Census and the US Department of Labor.  Both dealt with statistical analysis and methodology.  Sound boring?  It wasn't.

At DOL I worked with the Bureau of Labor Statistics to develop a methodology for identifying high pockets of unemployment within urban areas.  We found an acceptable solution and the problem was solved.  At the time in the late 1960's this was a big social issue.

At the Census Bureau I was involved in computerizing the Address Coding Guide for Americans which collected the information needed on a national basis that could be converted to block by block data.  The ability to instantly sort data for 250 million people all the way down to a block by block level changed forever the way problems like poverty, unemployment, health and education were identified.

Political Polling

Later I worked in 32 political campaigns at the local (mayor and city council), state (both governors and state senators), and federal (presidential, senate and house races).  Working with all three levels of government gave me the opportunity to understand the inter-relationship and inter-dependence of each level from the executive branch, legislative branch and judiciary which exist at every level.

Beyond that, involvement in the campaign allowed me to play with more statistics as I then had access to polling information.  Once I got into the development of newer and more accurate ways to measure for political purposes I was in heaven.

It was amazing to measure how people reacted to polls, how to make the polls totally objective and representative of the diversity of the public, and how to interpret the results.  A real pollster does not try and confirm anything, but measures the true thoughts of the voter.

Over the decades social issues were almost always an integral element of the polling activity and measuring the true public feeling for an issue could help win elections, especially in limited geographic areas like Congressional Districts.

Through this experience it was always the intent of the polling to maintain absolute integrity over the results.  In other words, the intent of the poll was never to influence people but to understand people.

Focus groups, a key element of comprehensive polling and analysis, became a world of fascinating human reactions and emotions and led us into human response monitoring, an electrical monitoring method of verifying emotional response to any issue, word, phrase, image or color.

I offer this overview to show I've been aware and involved in polling and measuring public response to public issues, often social issues, for over four decades.

Becoming a Social Issue

I believe the point a concern becomes a "social issue" as defined by the media and political parties, is when there is sufficient public interest in any issue to create a reservoir of support for and against the issue.  In other words, when the interest becomes a "special" interest to those for and against something, you have a "social issue".

We searched for a "radical fringe", both for and against an issue, and when it was discovered suddenly the issue could cause polarization.  It was a science to predict the impact on the voting public of a politician taking a side for or against that issue.  There was much research exhausted to find this formula.

In the end you really couldn't, there were simply too many valid variables.  Many consultants tried to capitalize on their version of the truth but trying to manage reaction to social issues is a political time bomb and fraught with dangerous consequences.  There were always exceptions to a rule.

Ronald Reagan could take almost any side of any issue and people still supported him because they trusted him to look out for our overall good.  Reagan never wavered on his patriotism and never wavered on doing what was best for all Americans, not just those who agreed with him.  Few politicians have the trust of people, especially those from all political parties and independents.

Measuring the Importance of Social Issues

This changes from neighborhood to neighborhood, even block to block in some areas.  A strong local church can generate interest in issues that might otherwise never see the light of day.  Urban areas differ from suburbs, cities from farming areas.

In the end there are always two key considerations.  First, the person you represent, the politician you are trying to get or keep elected, better have a clear standing on the issue in the minds of the voters.  And second, if you open Pandora's Box by introducing the social issue to a campaign, you better make sure your opponent thinks the opposite so a clear distinction can be drawn.

Can the social issue ever be solved?

If the wounds of polarization and the emotional pain associated with it are an indication of the consequence of failing to resolve the issue then we better make it a priority.  We were put here to help and serve, not hate and kill.  There can be no higher purpose for mankind.

So we must get beyond the social issues that inspire anger and hatred.  In truth, many social issues have their grounding in religious belief and teachings.  Yet most social issues involve judgment, a function most religions agree is left to God in whatever form you recognize the Deity.

Government cannot legislate God's Law nor take God's place.  Free will, a gift to us from God in most religions, gives us a choice and makes judgment between God and us, not big government and us.  Freedom of religion must be protected, but religion cannot be legislated.

According to the King James Bible, Cambridge Edition, in Mark 12:17, "And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled at him."

Well judging spiritual morality is God's work, not ours.

We must make the laws of man clear, concise and unmistakable in their intent.  But we must not usurp the laws of God.

Social issues, a liberal term for matters of religion, are compromised when they are codified into man's law.  When we try to legislate gay marriage, contraception, abortion and similar issues under our law there is conflict, disagreement and polarization.  There is the conflict between socialism which wants to controls religion and democracy which respects individual rights and freedom.

Man's law can accommodate both sides of most issues if used to achieve fairness and freedom for all.

For example, civil marriage need not specify sex, leave that to the participants.  But marriage in the church, any church, should conform to the dogma of that church.  If you don't agree with the civil law get married in the church where a marriage between man and woman can be required.

Contraception is similar.  The government can make it available but it cannot make it mandatory for those religions that oppose it.  Much is said about the Roman Catholic stand on contraception.  The church is opposed.  Yet many Catholics in America support the use in spite of the efforts of the Bishops to encourage church dogma.

In the end, that is a matter between the individual Catholic and God come Judgment Day.  The individual has the right to use free will and can decide either way.  If they are wrong on their decision, a just God will let them know and pass judgment.

What is the truth about contraceptive use in America?

Here is a recent report by the Guttmacher Institute that attempts to document contraceptive use.

Facts on Contraceptive Use in the United States

June 2010

WHO NEEDS CONTRACEPTIVES?

• There are 62 million U.S. women in their childbearing years (15–44).

 • Seven in 10 women of reproductive age (43 million women) are sexually active and do not want to become pregnant, but could become pregnant if they and their partners fail to use a contraceptive method.

• The typical U.S. woman wants only two children. To achieve this goal, she must use contraceptives for roughly three decades.

WHO USES CONTRACEPTIVES?

• Virtually all women (more than 99%) aged 15–44 who have ever had sexual intercourse have used at least one contraceptive method.

• Overall, 62% of the 62 million women aged 15–44 are currently using a method.

• Almost one-third (31%) of these 62 million women do not need a method because they are infertile; are pregnant, postpartum or trying to become pregnant; have never had intercourse; or are not sexually active.

• Thus, only 7% of women aged 15–44 are at risk for unintended pregnancy but are not using contraceptives.

• Among the 43 million fertile, sexually active women who do not want to become pregnant, 89% are practicing contraception.

WHICH METHODS DO WOMEN USE?

• Sixty-three percent of reproductive-age women who practice contraception use nonpermanent methods, including hormonal methods (such as the pill, patch, implant, injectable and vaginal ring), the IUD and condoms. The remaining women rely on female or male sterilization.

• Contraceptive choices vary markedly with age. For women younger than 30, the pill is the leading method. Among women aged 30 and older, more rely on sterilization.

• The pill and female sterilization have been the two leading contraceptive methods in the United States since 1982. However, sterilization is the most common method among black and Hispanic women, while white women mostly commonly choose the pill.

• Female sterilization is most commonly relied on by women who are aged 35 or older, women who are currently or have previously been married, women with two or more children, women below 150% of the federal poverty level and women with less than a college education.

• Half of all women aged 40–44 who practice contraception have been sterilized, and another 20% have a partner who has had a vasectomy.

• The pill is the method most widely used by women who are in their teens and 20s, women who are cohabiting, women with no children and women with at least a college degree.

• Some 6.2 million women rely on the male condom. Condom use is especially common among teens and women in their 20s, women with one or no children and women with at least a college education.

• Dual methods (most often the condom combined with another method) are used by 13.5% of contraceptive users. The proportions using more than one method are greatest among teenagers and never-married women.

TEEN CONTRACEPTIVE USE

• Teenagers (aged 15–19) who do not use a contraceptive at first sex are twice as likely to become teen mothers as are teenagers who use a method.

• Twenty-three percent of teenage women using contraceptives choose condoms as their primary method. Condom use is higher among women aged 20–24 and is lower among older and married women.

• Of the 2.9 million teenage women who use contraceptives, 54%—more than 1.5 million women—rely on the pill.

TRENDS IN CONTRACEPTIVE USE

• The proportion of women aged 15–44 currently using a contraceptive method increased from 56% in 1982 to 64% in 1995, and then declined slightly to 62% in 2002 and 2006–2008.

• Among all women, 7% were at risk of unwanted pregnancy but not using a method in 2006–2008, an increase from 5% in 1995.

• Among just those women who are sexually active and able to become pregnant but do not want to become pregnant, 11% are not using contraceptives. That number is much higher among teens aged 15–19 (19%) and lower among older women aged 40–44 (8%).

• The proportion of women using contraceptives who rely on condoms decreased between 1995 and 2006–2008 from 20% to 16%. However, use was still higher in 2006–2008 than it was in 1988.

• Between 1995 and 2002, the share of users relying on the pill increased slightly, from 27% to 31%, but it declined slightly, to 28%, in 2006–2008.

• In 2006–2008, 27% of contraceptive users relied on female sterilization, compared with 23% in 1982.[funded family planning clinic.

• The proportion of all users relying on the IUD has increased substantially, from less than 1% in 1995, to 2% in 2002, to 5.5% in 2006–2008.

Data Sources

• The information in this fact sheet is the most current available. All of the data are from research conducted by the Guttmacher Institute and the National Center for Health Statistics or from Contraceptive Technology.
• U.S. Bureau of the Census, Table 2: annual estimates of the resident population by sex and selected age groups for the United States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008, no date, , accessed May 25, 2010.
• Mosher WD and Jones J, Use of contraception in the United States: 1982–2008, Vital and Health Statistics, 2010, Series 23, No. 29.
• The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), Fulfilling the Promise: Public Policy and U.S. Family Planning Clinics, New York: AGI, 2000.
• Piccinino LJ and Mosher WD, Trends in contraceptive use in the United States: 1982–1995, Family Planning Perspectives, 1998, 30(1):4–10 & 46.
• Frost JJ, Trends in US women’s use of sexual and reproductive health care services, 1995–2002, American Journal of Public Health, 2008, 98(10):1814–1817.
• Dailard C, Contraceptive coverage: a 10-year retrospective, Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, 2004, 7(2):6–9.
• Sonfield A et al., U.S. insurance coverage of contraceptives and the impact of contraceptive coverage mandates, 2002, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2004, 36(2):72–79.
• Guttmacher Institute, Insurance coverage contraceptives, State Policies In Brief (as of May 2010), 2010, , accessed May 25, 2010.

Go to Guttmacher Institute website for more information.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_contr_use.html

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George Washington Slept Here!

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Happy 280th Birthday President Washington

I'm sitting here on my front porch on February 22 in Coltons Point, Maryland looking out on the vast Potomac River flowing past on it's way to the Chesapeake Bay.  Imagine that right here 378 years ago a couple of ships full of English pilgrims arrived to settle the area.

It is late February and the temperature is 60 degrees.

Within eyesight across the river in Virginia you can see the birthplace of our most beloved President and Father of the Country, George Washington.  He was born there 280 years ago today.

Perhaps our most least understood president, against all odds he led the nation into declaring freedom in 1776 and fighting the powerful English during the Revolution.  Then this advocate of freedom and commander in chief of our military promptly retired.  He fought for the creation of a republic, not a parliament and a king like many wanted.

So he quit the military.  Then the people drafted him to be president and he presided over the birth of the strongest democracy in history.  After serving two terms, he again retired.  There was no term limit and with his popularity George could have been president until his death but that wasn't the republic he sought.

One final act by the mysterious Founding Father was in his will of 1799 when he died.  It freed all the slaves on his plantation.  This was 64 years before our next most beloved President Abraham Lincoln enforced the Emancipation Proclamation and freed all slaves.

Long before George was born two of the daughters of Dr. Thomas Gerrard, the patriarch of St. Clements Manor (located in what is now Coltons Point), the original territory given by King Charles I to Lord Baltimore, were married to George Washington's great grandfather, John Washington, who lived just across the river.

In the old days if a married woman died and she had an unmarried sister, the sister married the widower.  Thus when George's great grandpa's first wife, Anne Pope died, he married Anne Gerrard. The second Anne also died before him so he married her unmarried sister Frances Gerrard.

Because George grew up across the river and the Washington and Gerrard families were on both sides of the river it is only logical to say George Washington Slept Here and mean it.

Happy birthday Mr.President.

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Health News You Can Use - Stay Informed & Stay Alive

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The latest health news you probably didn't hear from the main street media.

CDC Says 5,000 Die Annually from Food

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, foodborne illness causes 76 million Americans to fall sick, 325,000 Americans to be hospitalized, and 5,000 Americans to die each year. Recent foodborne illness outbreaks linked to contaminated peanuts, cookie dough, and spinach – along with news coverage of illness and death from contaminated ground beef – highlight the inadequacies of our current food safety system.

FDA Approves New Suppliers to Ease Cancer Drug Shortages

By Linda A. Johnson | AP | February 21, 2012 

Federal regulators said Tuesday that they’ve approved new suppliers for two crucial cancer drugs, easing critical shortages — at least for the time being — that have left patients and parents frightened about missing life-saving treatments.

The news brings a light at the end of the tunnel for some patients, but not for thousands of others, given that there are currently 283 separate drugs in short supply or totally unavailable in this country.

Drug-Resistant Staph Linked to Animal Antibiotics

by Gretchen Goetz | Feb 21, 2012

A study published today in MiBio lends further weight to the growing theory that using animal antibiotics in livestock contributes to drug resistance among human bacteria.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a strain of Staph that's resistant to methicillin - the drug most commonly used to treat Staph infections.

Using a detailed DNA mapping technique, researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Arizona were able to trace one of these superbugs - MRSA CC398 - to its origins, discovering that the human strain of this bacteria developed its drug resistance in animals rather than in people.

Often referred to as "pig-MRSA" or "livestock-associated MRSA," the strain is known to affect humans who have been exposed to live animals, such as farmers or veterinarians. But this study found that CC398 was originally a human bacteria, susceptible to antibiotics, before it spread to animals and then back to people. By the time it returned to humans it had picked up two souvenirs: resistance to methicillin and resistance to tetracycline - a drug often used to treat Staph infections in patients allergic to the penicillin class of antibiotics, which includes methicillin.

Because both tetracycline and penicillins are commonly administered to food animals, the study finds that it is likely that the use of these drugs in livestock gave this Staph bacteria the exposure it needed to develop resistance to these drugs.

In 2010, Tetracycline - used to promote growth and prevent the spread of disease - comprised over 42 percent of all antibiotics administered to food-producing animals in the United States. That year 12,328,520 pounds of the drug were given to animals, while just over 100,000 pounds of the drug are sold for human use. And while over 1.9 million pounds of penicillin were sold for animal use in 2010, approximately 1.5 million pounds are distributed for human use.

Both of these drugs are crucial for treating human Staph infections, says Dr. Lance Price, lead author of the study and Director of TGen's Center for Food Microbiology and Environmental Health.

"Methacyline's a really good antibiotic for treating these kinds of infections," he told Food Safety News in an interview. "But a substantial portion of the population is allergic to penicillin and they need alternative drugs like tetracycline. But 69% of the staph we see is resistant to tetracycline."

Price says that animal feeding operation provide the perfect setting for the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, MRSA is easily transmitted in settings where factors it calls the "5 Cs" are present: crowding, frequent skin-to-skin contact, compromised skin (cuts or abrasions), contamination or lack of cleanliness.

"A CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) is the place where these 5 Cs are most prevalent," says Price. "And the single worst thing you could do is add antibiotics to that environment. It's the cocktail for creating superbugs."

Once these superbugs are created, there's no telling where they can go, Price says. While most cases of CC398 come from direct contact with livestock, some human cases cannot be traced to live animals, raising the question of where they came from. Other humans? Contaminated meat?

Several studies have shown MRSA to be prevalent on our meat and poultry. A study published in the Journal of Food Protection in October of last year found Staph bacteria in 29 percent of grocery store ground meats. And a study led by Price released earlier that year discovered Staph on almost one half of grocery store meats and poultry after putting samples in a bacteria enrichment broth to make Staph more detectable. Half of these contaminated meats were carrying a multi-drug resistant strain of Staph.

Price says the transmission of MRSA from meat to humans is an area that needs more research.

"There is definitely drug-resistant Staph in our food supply and probably in high concentrations. We still don't know whether it's a good route of exposure for people," he explains. "I think that's something we've really got to dedicate some research to."

For now though, Price says the upshot of his research is that antibiotics should be saved for treatment, not growth or prevention.

"We should be using antibiotics prudently, both in human antibiotics and animal production," he notes. "We should only be using them to treat infections - and it should be a last resort - because we're heading towards a time when our antibiotics won't work anymore, and we have to do everything we can to preserve the ones we have."

Timebomb of 'impossible to treat' diseases in UK as experts see a rise in antibiotic-resistant infections

Country could see 'massive' rise of drug-resistant bacteria

• Antibiotic-resistance medicine's equivalent of climate change

By Kerry Mcqueeney

A rise in antibiotic-resistant blood poisoning - caused by the E.coli bacteria - is posing such a huge risk that experts fear the country could be facing a timebomb of diseases that are impossible to treat.

The growth of antibiotic-resistance has become so serious that experts now say it is as much of a threat to global health as the emergence of new diseases such as Aids and pandemic flu.

It is now such a cause for concern that health professionals believe the issue has become the medicine world's equivalent to climate change, it has been reported.

On the rise: The E.coli bacteria is thought to be behind the massive increase in antibiotic-resistant blood poisoning

According to the Independent, Professor Peter Hawkey said common infections are threatening to turn into untreatable diseases by the 'slow but insidious growth' of resistant organisms.

The clinical microbiologist, and chair of the Government's antibiotic-resistance working group, told the Independent: 'It is a worldwide issue - there are no boundaries.

Antibiotics are no more effective in treating sinus infections than over-the-counter drugs, says study

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 12:51 PM on 16th February 2012

A new study will only add to the misery of millions suffering painful symptoms of sinus infection: antibiotics do little to alleviate the problem.

The study, published in the latest version of the Journal of the American Medical Association, adds weight to the long-held belief that GPs' willingness to prescribe antibiotics increased infections' resistance to drugs.

Researchers studied 166 patients suffering sinus infection and gave them all a week's supply of over-the-counter medication.

Bad news for sufferers: A study has found that a course of antibiotics does little to alleviate the painful symptoms of sinus infections

Half of the patients were also given a 10-day course of the antibiotic amoxicillin, while the other half were given a placebo.

The researchers checked whether symptoms - facial pain, cough, runny or blocked nose - showed any significant improvement between the two groups.

Patients were checked at predetermined intervals over four weeks.

Over-prescription: The study backs up the long-held belief that GPs are reducing the effectiveness of antibiotics by prescribing them for all kinds of ailments

The results of the study show that - a week into the study - there was a marginal change for the better in the antibiotic group.

But researchers ruled that there was little noticeable relief in symptoms - certainly not enough for antibiotics to be ruled any more effective than over-the-counter medicine.

It is an important result, as the research leaders say one in five antibiotic prescriptions in the U.S. are for sinus infections.

Sinus infection: Inflammation of the airways can lead to headache, facial pain, a cough and blocked nose

Study author Dr Jane Garbutt, a research associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, told WebMD: 'I think the data are something like 90 per cent of people that go to a doctor's office and receive this diagnosis will be given an antibiotic prescription.'

'I think that we should try and significantly reduce that percentage.'.

But doctors believe it would be too hasty to write off antibiotics, pointing to the fact that Dr Garbutt's study only focussed on amoxicillin, to which infections have a high resistance.

New York ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Linda Dahl said antibiotics such as Augmentin, Levaquin, and Biaxin could still be effective.

Her advice to patients suffering from sinus infection was to stick it out with over-the-counter decongestants for a week or two, adding: 'If you've been sick for two weeks and have been taking decongestants, it's probably not going to get better on its own.'

drug-resistance | February 20, 2012

Natural substances excellent choices to combat ‘superbugs’

Scott Johnson

Orem Holistic Health Examiner

The U.S. Centers for disease control considers the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance a major public health crisis and the Utah Department of Health has called the problem a significant threat to the citizens of Utah.

A number of factors are contributing to this mounting problem including the use of antibacterial hand soaps, the unnecessary prescribing of antibiotics for viral infections and the overuse of antibiotics in livestock to encourage faster growth.

By many accounts, the war between drugs and bacteria is being won by the bacteria. Bacteria adapt and grow stronger until some are resistant to most, if not all, available antibiotics. These formidable pathogens are frequently referred to as “superbugs.”

Fortunately, many natural antimicrobial substances exist that bacteria are not becoming resistant to. The difference between antibiotic drugs and natural antimicrobial agents is that the natural agents have hundreds – even thousands – of chemicals that the bacteria have to become resistant to. If the bacteria adapts to one chemical, another steps in its place to fight the bacteria.

In the February 6, 2012edition of the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Danish researcher Jes Gitz Holler, Ph.D. discovered just such a natural substance in the Chilean avocado plant.

Specifically, the University of Copenhagen researcher found that this natural substance was effective against yellow staphylococci, or Staphylococcus aureus,when combined with tradiational antibiotic treatment.

Yellow staphylococci is the most common cause of wound infections that results from an operation. Skin infection is the most common outcome of a staphylococci infection, though if it enters the bloodstream or bones serious diseases may occur, such as pneumonia, endocarditis – a serious infection of one of the four heart valves – and osteomylitis – infection of the bones.

Resistant bacteria are able to expel antibiotics before the antibiotics can take effect through an efflux pump. Holler explains that the substance he identified inhibits this defense mechanism and allows the antibiotic to successfully destroy the bacteria.

Another group of natural substances known to exert potent antimicrobial effects is essential oils. In a 2001 study, published in the same journal, scientists tested the vapors of 14 essential oils against five common drug-resistant pathogens.

Of the fourteen essential oils tested, each showed antimicrobial activity, with cinnamon bark, lemongrass and thyme showing the greatest affect at the lowest dosage.

According to materials provided by the University of Copenhagen Holler states, "the drug industry is not pursuing research into new antibiotics. It is simply too expensive relative to possible earnings, and there is more money in drugs to treat chronic diseases such as diabetes. Therefore, the bacteria are winning the race -- resistance increases and treatment options are scarce. Research will have to find new paths and natural substances are one of them."

As drug manufacturers abandon antibiotic research for more lucrative drug markets, natural antimicrobial compounds will become more vital in the war on bacteria.

Many bacteria are growing more resistant to antibiotic drugs.

Hepatitis C Now Kills More Americans Than HIV

February 20, 2012

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) — Deaths from hepatitis C have increased steadily in the United States in recent years, in part because many people don’t know they have disease, a new government report says.

More Americans now die of hepatitis C than from HIV, the AIDS-causing virus, according to 1999-2007 data reviewed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And most of those dying are middle-aged.

“These data underscore the urgent need to address the health threat posed by chronic hepatitis B and C in the United States,” said investigator Dr. Scott Holmberg, chief of the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch in CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis.

About 3.2 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C, a major cause of liver cancer and cirrhosis, the CDC authors said. An estimated one-half to three-quarters of infected adults are unaware they have the disease, which progresses slowly.

Hepatitis C is spread through injection drug use, from blood transfusions received before routine blood-screening began in 1992, and through sexual contact. In some cases, it passes from mothers to infants.

“Chronic hepatitis is a leading and preventable cause of premature death in the United States,” Holmberg said. “Over time, leaving viral hepatitis untreated can lead to costly care and treatments, and lifetime costs can total hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, early detection and intervention can be cost-effective and save lives.”

The new study highlights the need to increase hepatitis awareness and the critical importance of testing, Holmberg said. Screening will increase diagnoses and treatment, thereby reducing hepatitis-related deaths, he said.

The report is published in the Feb. 21 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Using death records from 1999 to 2007, researchers collected data on some 22 million Americans, looking for those who died from hepatitis B, C and HIV.

The investigators found deaths from hepatitis C surpassed deaths from HIV (15,000 from hepatitis C versus 13,000 from HIV). They also found that deaths from hepatitis C and B are mostly among the middle-aged.

“Seventy-three percent of hepatitis C deaths were reported among those 45 to 64 years old,” Holmberg said. “As the population living with hepatitis C in the United States — 66 percent of whom were born between 1945 and 1964 — has aged and entered a high-risk period of life for hepatitis C-related disease, deaths associated with hepatitis C have increased substantially.”

Vaccines exist for hepatitis B, but not for hepatitis C. If current trends continue, by 2030 deaths from hepatitis C are expected to reach 35,000 a year, researchers say.

According to Dr. Eugene Schiff, director of the Center for Liver Diseases at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, “the study is important because it documents and authenticates what we knew.” But, “what we need right now, particularly for hepatitis C, is routine screening,” noted Schiff, who was not involved with the study.

Dramatic changes are under way in the treatment of hepatitis C, he pointed out. Current treatment involves a cocktail of drugs, including antivirals and interferon, which many people cannot tolerate.

In about two years, interferon-free treatment will be available, Schiff said. This means higher cure rates with fewer side effects, which will make treatment tolerable by most patients, he explained.

“What’s going to happen is what happened with HIV — test and treat,” Schiff said. “Patients will be given an interferon-free regimen with cure rates approaching 100 percent,” he predicted.

Another study in the same journal issue found that the most up-to-date treatment for hepatitis C can cost $60,000, but may be cost-effective, according to Stanford University health policy researchers.

In a study led by Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, an assistant professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, investigators developed a computer model to assess the cost-effectiveness of a new treatment for hepatitis C. Their model showed that for people with advanced disease the cost was justified in terms of results.

The treatment involves use of two drugs called protease inhibitors — boceprevir (brand name Victrelis) and telaprevir (brand name Incivek) — in addition to interferon and an antiviral.

While the new treatment is expensive and may cause side effects, it could reduce patients’ risks for cancer and liver transplants, thereby avoiding those costly events and possibly helping patients live longer, better lives, the researchers pointed out in a journal news release.

Yet another study in the journal recommends one-time screening of all those born between 1945 and 1965, instead of waiting until symptoms appear.

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