In August, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a draft recommendation that encourages clinicians to screen all adults aged 18 to 79 years for HCV infection, including pregnant women. According to the USPSTF, HCV prevalence doubled among women aged 15 to 44 years between 2006 and 2014. Due to the increasing prevalence of the disease in this age group, the task force said clinicians “may want to consider screening pregnant persons aged younger than age 18 years.”

Infectious Diseases in Children asked Jordan J. Feld, MD, MPH, the R. Phelan Chair in Translational Liver Disease Research at the University of Toronto, about the importance of universal HCV testing in pregnant women and why physicians may argue against it.