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Wendy Dillon
Adult Viral Hepatitis Prevention Program

At least 142,000 Washington adults have either chronic hepatitis B or C, infectious diseases that can severely damage the liver. The most common form, hepatitis C, is often called “the silent epidemic” because many people who are infected don’t know they have it.

Wendy Dillon and the small staff in our agency’s Adult Viral Hepatitis Prevention program are working to change that.

Wendy says the lack of public awareness is due, in part, to the fact that people with viral hepatitis have few or no symptoms. It often goes undiscovered for many years and can lead to cirrhosis or liver cancer.

The Adult Viral Hepatitis Prevention program was created six years ago. Wendy has been the program coordinator from near its beginning. The program works to reduce illness and death caused by the three types of viral hepatitis most often found in the United States, hepatitis A, B and C. The most common type, hepatitis C, is carried in the blood, and is most often transmitted through injection drug use or contact with infected blood.

The program has sponsored several public education campaigns using radio ads and signs on buses, but for the most part it works with an array of partners to create awareness. The program educates health care providers and public health nurses, trains others to provide training and presents at community college health fairs.

Wendy’s team also has strong partnerships with other state agencies such as the Veterans Administration and the Department of Corrections (hepatitis C is widespread in prisons). The program collects and analyzes Washington State hepatitis data which it shares with the public and its partners.  

For more information on viral hepatitis, visit: http://www.doh.wa.gov/cfh/Hepatitis/default.htm