Updated: October 2024

Author: Infectious Disease Program, Vermont Department of Health

This indicator, or population measure, is part of our Healthy Vermonters 2030 data set. Read more about how this data helps us understand and improve the well-being of people in Vermont on the Healthy Vermonters 2030 webpage.

Because this data is meant to show how the health of our state changes during the decade from 2020-2030, some indicators may have very few data points for now. Keep checking back to see the progress our public health system and partners are making.

We want to see the percent of new hepatitis C cases that are caught at the acute stage to increase to 25% by 2030.

We currently only have the baseline data point for this indicator. As we report further data through 2030, the trend over time will help us monitor our success toward achieving this objective.

Looking for more data?

• See the corresponding national Healthy People 2030 objective for reducing the rate of acute hepatitis C.

Identifying a hepatitis C infection at the acute stage means it is still early in the course of the disease and treatment is more effective.

An estimated 2.3 million people in the US are living with a hepatitis C infection. Many people do not experience symptoms of hepatitis C initially and may not realize they have it until they get sick years after they are infected. If left untreated, a large proportion of people with hepatitis C will develop a chronic infection, often leading to severe liver disease.

Treatment for hepatitis C is highly effective and can cure more than 90% of people living with HCV, with minimal side effects. Not only does catching hepatitis C infections early lead to treatment that prevents severe illness in individuals with hepatitis C, but it also prevents further spread of infection to others (treatment as prevention). This means the population-wide level of infection decreases, reducing the risk of new hepatitis C infections.

Being able to classify more newly identified cases of hepatitis C as acute will help us understand which populations and geographic areas are experiencing new infections, which can help us more effectively target prevention and treatment efforts. Treating chronic infections is important, but knowing where new infections are occurring is key to reducing further transmission.

Hepatitis C disproportionately affects people who use drugs, people of color, and people who have been incarcerated due in large part to stigma and discrimination. These populations face significant barriers to care and treatment for hepatitis C, which means they are at higher risk of negative health outcomes, such as liver disease, cirrhosis, and liver cancer death. Knowing which populations are experiencing higher rates of acute infection will help us target prevention and treatment efforts more effectively. 

Improving our surveillance methods to distinguish between acute and chronic HCV infections more easily will give us a greater understanding of the effectiveness of current prevention and treatment efforts throughout the state and help us prioritize future prevention and treatment interventions.

The Health Department will continue to improve hepatitis C surveillance methods to more accurately identify acute hepatitis C cases through enhanced disease investigations. The Health Department will also continue to advocate for increased hepatitis C screening in both traditional and non-traditional healthcare settings and promote greater access to hepatitis C treatment.

The percentage of newly identified cases of hepatitis C that are classified as acute is currently quite low due to limitations with historical hepatitis C surveillance data. We chose the target goal of 25% because as surveillance methods improve and as more people are appropriately screened and treated for hepatitis C, the proportion of newly identified cases that are acute should be increasing. 25% is a significant increase over the current percentage but acknowledges that the surveillance and clinical changes needed to increase this proportion further will take time. 

This data is from the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) Base System (NBS). New lab results and cases are entered into the system in real time, and data is routinely cleaned once a year. Data entered into NBS is received from laboratories and supplemented by clinical information found in VITL (the portal for Vermont Health Information Exchange).