what is HEP C

Hepatitis C is a liver disease. Liver disease caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes significant morbidity and mortality among patients with endstage renal disease (ESRD) treated with hemodialysis (HD). Prevalence of anti-HCV antibody among HD patients is consistently higher than in general population indicating increased risk of acquiring HCV infection among HD patients. The hepatitis C virus is spread by blood-to-blood contact. Most people have few, if any symptoms after the initial infection, yet the virus persists in the liver in about 85% of those infected. Persistent infection can be treated with medication, pegiterferon and ribavirin being the standard-of-care therapy. Fifty-one percent are cured overall. Those who develop cirrhosis or liver cancer may require a liver tranplant, and the virus universally recurs after transplantation.

Until 1989 medical science was unaware that it even existed. There was no name for it and people that had it and actually had symptoms, either went undiagnosed or the liver problems were labeled as other diseases. Before the disease was identified doctors were seeing patients with a form of hepatitis that was labeled ?non A or non B? hepatitis. Once they discovered that it was a different and unique form of hepatitis, they named it hepatitis C. It has been called the silent killer. Doctors quickly realized that this ?new? form of hepatitis was particularly deadly because patients often had little or no symptoms other than flu like aches and pains, fatigue and occasionally, elevated liver enzymes (ALT and AST) until their liver failed due to cirrhosis or cancer. Although this was particularly troubling, they soon realized that because the disease had only recently been discovered, that infected people had unknowingly been donating blood and that the disease had been transmitted through blood transfusions. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that over the coming decade the death toll from hepatitis C will triple, surpassing that of AIDS. Four times as many Americans are infected with the hepatitis C virus as with HIV.

You could get hepatitis C from

• being born to a mother with hepatitis C
• having sex with an infected person
• being tattooed or pierced with unsterilized tools that were used on an infected person
• getting an accidental needle stick with a needle that was used on an infected person
• using an infected person’s razor or toothbrush
• sharing drug needles with an infected person

You cannot get hepatitis C from

• shaking hands with an infected person
• hugging an infected person
• sitting next to an infected person

 

What are the symptoms of hepatitis C?

Most people have no symptoms until the virus causes liver damage, which can take 10 or more years to happen. Others have one or more of the following symptoms:

• yellowish eyes and skin, called jaundice
• a longer than usual amount of time for bleeding to stop
• swollen stomach or ankles
• easy bruising
• tiredness
• upset stomach
• fever
• loss of appetite
• diarrhea
• light-colored stools
• dark yellow urine

What is chronic hepatitis C?

Hepatitis C is chronic when the body can’t get rid of the hepatitis C virus. Although some people clear the virus from their bodies in a few months, most hepatitis C infections become chronic. Without treatment, chronic hepatitis C can cause scarring of the liver, called cirrhosis; liver cancer; and liver failure.
Symptoms of cirrhosis include

• yellowish eyes and skin, called jaundice
• a longer than usual amount of time for bleeding to stop
• swollen stomach or ankles or ascites
• tiredness
• nausea
• weakness
• loss of appetite
• weight loss
• spiderlike blood vessels, called spider angiomas, that develop on the skin

How is hepatitis C diagnosed?

Hepatitis C is diagnosed through blood tests, which can also show if you have chronic hepatitis C or another type of hepatitis. Your doctor may suggest getting a liver biopsy if chronic hepatitis C is suspected. A liver biopsy is a test for liver damage. The doctor uses a needle to remove a tiny piece of liver, which is then looked at with a microscope.