The study examined more than 3,000 U.S. patients who recently received a cancer diagnosis and were screened for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.
Although the patients’ infection rates were similar to those in the general population, 87 percent of patients with past hepatitis B; 42 percent of patients with chronic hepatitis B; and 31 percent of those with hepatitis C infections had not been diagnosed, the study found.
“Screening patients with newly diagnosed cancer to identify hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infection before starting treatment may be warranted to prevent viral reactivation and adverse clinical outcomes,” the researchers concluded.
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