MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — A Muskegon clinic helping cure the most common blood-borne infection in the world is marking a big milestone.
The Mercy Health Hepatitis C Clinic is celebrating 500 patients cured. It has cured 37 percent of all patients referred, four times higher than the national rate.
Hepatitis C spreads by blood-to-blood exposure. It can cause liver damage, cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
"There is a cure and I'm living proof," Tammy Rogers told 24 Hour News 8.
She was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2005. She knew some of her friends were infected but she wasn't showing any symptoms.
That's not surprising, said Dr. Elaine Leigh, a nurse practitioner at Mercy Health Hackley Campus. She said hepatitis C has long been known as a silent epidemic.
"People can have this infection for 20, 30 years or more and have no symptoms whatsoever," Leigh said.
Rogers was referred to the Mercy Health Hepatitis C Clinic by her doctor. After learning she qualified for treatment, she went on a 12-week regimen of a drug called Harvoni.
FULL STORY: WOOD TV