Recommendations on screening tests for diseases are in the news with a government panel recommending against routine prostate cancer screening for healthy men, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention proposing that baby boomers be screened for hepatitis C.

First, the news on the PSA test from the Associated Press:

“Healthy men shouldn’t get routine prostate cancer screenings, says updated advice from a government panel that found the PSA blood tests do more harm than good.

Despite strenuous protests from urologists, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is sticking by a contentious proposal it made last fall.”

Next, the government has proposed all baby boomers get tested for hepatitis C. Here is what the Associated Press reported:

“For the first time, the government is proposing that all baby boomers get tested for hepatitis C.

Anyone born from 1945 to 1965 should get a one-time blood test to see if they have the liver-destroying virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in draft recommendations issued Friday.

Baby boomers account for more than 2 million of the 3.2 million Americans infected with the blood-borne virus. It can take decades to cause liver damage, and many people don’t know they’re infected.

CDC officials believe the new measure could lead 800,000 more baby boomers to get treatment and could save more than 120,000 lives.”