In the United States, about 2% of people have hepatitis C, with 35,000 to 185,000 new cases a year. Rates have decreased in the West since the 1990s due to improved blood screening before transfusion. Annual deaths from HCV in the United States range from 8,000 to 10,000. Expectations are that this mortality rate will increase as people infected by transfusion before HCV testing become ill and die.