The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called hepatitis C an undeclared public-health crisis, affecting as much as 2 percent of the adult U.S. population and killing 1,500 Americans a year. It is caused by a virus and is typically transmitted through blood contact, such as dirty syringes.
Many people contracted the disease through blood transfusions before routine testing of donated blood for hepatitis C began in 1992.
The disease can go undetected for years and can eventually lead to cancer or cirrhosis of the liver. It is particularly prevalent among baby boomers. Federal health authorities recommend that everyone born between 1945 and 1965 be tested for the disease.
Ronni Marks, 60, of New York City contracted the disease from one of the many blood transfusions she underwent since childhood. After two unsuccessful treatments in the past that caused debilitating side effects, she began a course of Sovaldi and two other drugs this year.
“Hopefully these are the wonder drugs they say they are,” she said.
When a friend asked Marks for a photo of the slim, yellow pill — a single dose costs $1,000 — she snapped a picture of it on a blue background. “She said that it looked like it was taken on a Tiffany’s box,” Marks said. “I joked that it should have been, considering the price.”