Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz Tweeted Monday morning about an increase in Hepatitis C cases among adults in their 20's due to injected drug use.
In 2007 about 10% of Hep C cases were people in their 20s, now it's nearly 30%. Direct correlation to increase in injected drug use @ECDOH pic.twitter.com/OCblXs5P6a
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) February 6, 2017
Poloncarz attended the Opiate Epidemic Task Force where Erie County Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein reported 247 confirmed deaths in 2016 due to opioid use. Another 77 cases are suspected to have been from opioid use. The results are pending final toxicology reports.
Already in 2017, Dr. Burstein reported there have been 50 suspected opioid overdose deaths in Erie County.
