Kid Rock and Hepatitis C - What I wrote and what they printed LOL

[Guest guest]

H.E.A.L. THE WORLD

I just read your article, "Musicians to Avoid" (Real Life Top Five, Aug. 3), and I take great offense at your statement, "Kid Rock: He used to date Pamela , so if you give him a bloody nose you run the risk of catching hepatitis C."

As a hepatitis C patient myself and president of a nonprofit organization called H.E.A.L.S of North Georgia ( http://www.healsofnga.org/ ) I want you to know that uneducated comments like this do more harm than good to educate the public about the FACTS on hepatitis C. H.E.A.L.S stands for Hepatitis Education Awareness and Liver Support, and I would be negligent if I didn't try to educate you.

Hepatitis C is only transmitted blood-to-blood, so unless you hit Pam with an open cut on your hand and she bleeds into it (instead of Kid Rock) you certainly are not going to catch hepatitis C.

-- Pam Langford, Tallahassee, Fla.

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Dear Noah. I just read your article on Musicians to Avoid and I take great offense at your statement *3) Kid Rock: He used to date Pamela , so if you give him a bloody nose you run the risk of catching hepatitis C.*

As a Hepatitis C patient myself and President of a nonprofit called H.E.A.L.S of North Georgia (www.HEALSofNGA.org ) I want you to know that uneducated comments like this do more harm than good to educate the public about the FACTS on Hepatitis C. H.E.A.L.S stands for Hepatitis Education Awareness and Liver Support and I would be negligent if I didn't write to you and try to educate you a bit.

Hepatitis C is only transmitted blood to blood so unless you hit Pam with an open cut on your hand and she bleeds into it (instead of Kid Rock) you certainly are not going to *catch* Hepatitis C. I would appreciate not only a clarification of your statement (you owe your reading public the facts) but hope that you might go a step further and encourage someone at Creative Loafing to visit our support group and perhaps do a story on Hepatitis C (I have taken the liberty of attaching a map for you). We have people in various degrees of Hepatitis C - newly diagnosed, on treatment, failed treatment, cleared with treatment, liver transplanted, etc. and could provide you with a wide variety of interesting stories.

Here are some facts for you about Hepatitis C. There is NOT a vaccine for Hepatitis C. Only for Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B. Currently there are about 5 million Americans with Hepatitis C (over 200 million worldwide) and only about 1 million who know they have it as there are no symptoms until you have progressed to the end stages of the disease. You should be tested for Hepatitis C if you:

- received blood, blood products, or an organ transplant prior to 1992- ever shared drug paraphernalia, either by injecting or snorting- ever been stuck by a used blood needle- been on kidney dialysis- had a tattoo or body piercing- had sexual activity that involves contact with blood- shared personal care items (razors, toothbrushes, etc.) with other people- been incarcerated- are a war veteran (especially Vietnam)

- held a job that exposed you to blood

Doctors do not routinely test you so you generally need to ask to be tested or contact your local or State Health care office to find out how to get tested. Our average age is 40 to 59 and most of us just thought we were becoming a bit fatigued as we got older........ only to find out that we have had Hepatitis C for 15 to 40 years. Quite a shock! With 4 million people walking around not knowing they even have it just imagine how many people you are in contact with each day that do have Hepatitis C. If it were as easily *caught* as you lead people to believe then everyone would have it. We do outnumber HIV patients almost 5 to 1 and yet the public seems to have little or no knowledge of the facts about Hepatitis C.

I would appreciate a clarification in Creative Loafing. You can read about Hepatitis C at the CDC's website at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/c/index.htm

Thank you for your time and I hope your interest. Perhaps your health writer would be interested in doing a full story about Hepatitis C and helping to educate the public at large.

Sincerely,

Pam Langford

President

www.HEALSofNGA.org

figment@...

850-443-8029