In a rural area of central New York State, the number of hepatitis C infections climbed more than three-fold last year.
The number of people in Chenango County who are infected with hep C jumped to 66 in 2014 from 20 in 2013, the county’s health department reported this month. Chenango’s population is 50,000.
Location of Chenango County in New York State
Could this mean an epidemic has taken hold of this quiet, rural region? Or could this mean that hep C has been there all along but many more people are getting tested? Hopefully the second question is the answer.
Hep BOOMers 
I sure hope it’s because more people are being tested who didn’t know they had it.
But I think that more young people are getting tattoos now and this might be a new reason for new infections.
Piercings could be an issue too.