Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City, 61, died in March 2007 after contracting the disease in the early 1970s during a blood transfusion when a brain tumor was removed. But he wasn't diagnosed with the disease until 1996.
In the wake of last year's death of Kenneth Zebrowski, because of hepatitis C, NY state officials and lawmakers announced the creation of a Hepatitis C Advisory Council to help detect, treat and prevent the disease.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer put $1.6 million in his 2008-09 budget proposal to form the council and fund research and programs.
If approved as part of the budget, funding for the 15-member council would raise awareness about the disease and seek better ways to treat it, the younger Zebrowski said.
Hepatitis C is a liver disease and the most common chronic, blood-borne viral infection in the country. Before improved blood screening in 1992, the disease was often contracted through blood transfusions. Since then, though, the disease is most often contracted through shared needles during drug use.
The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the number of new infections per year has declined from an average of 240,000 in the 1980s to about 26,000 in 2004.
An estimated 340,000 New Yorkers
have been infected with the disease, including 240,000 who have suffered chronic infections, according to figures from the state Health Department.
"Unlike some other diseases, where you sort of know what your options are, know what it's going to affect, know what the risks are ... this is a disease that's been in the shadows," said the younger Zebrowski, 27.
The governor's proposal is receiving bipartisan support. Lawmakers who worked closely with the elder Zebrowski said they were pleased they could raise awareness about the disease.
Zebrowski's family attended a news conference at the Capitol to announce creation of the council, as did state Health Commissioner Richard Daines.