Everything You Need to Know About Hep C

In this section:

• What is hepatitis C?
• How common is hepatitis C in the United States?
• Who is more likely to get hepatitis C?
• Should I exist screened for hepatitis C?
• What are the complications of hepatitis C?
• What are the symptoms of hepatitis C?
• What causes hepatitis C?
• How do doctors diagnose hepatitis C?
• What tests do doctors apply to diagnose hepatitis C?
• How exercise doctors treat hepatitis C?
• How exercise doctors care for the complications of hepatitis C?
• How can I protect myself from hepatitis C infection?
• How can I prevent spreading hepatitis C to others?
• Is a hepatitis C vaccine available?
• What should I eat and drink if I take hepatitis C?

What is hepatitis C?

Hepatitis C is a viral infection that causes liver inflammation and damage. Inflammation is swelling that occurs when tissues of the body become injured or infected. Inflammation can damage organs.

Viruses invade normal cells in your body. Many viruses cause infections that tin can be spread from person to person. The hepatitis C virus spreads through contact with an infected person'due south claret.

Hepatitis C can cause an astute or chronic infection.

Although no vaccine for hepatitis C is available, you can have steps to protect yourself from hepatitis C. If you have hepatitis C, talk with your physician well-nigh treatment. Medicines can cure virtually cases of hepatitis C.

Acute hepatitis C

Acute hepatitis C is a brusque-term infection. Symptoms can last up to 6 months. Sometimes your body is able to fight off the infection and the virus goes away.

Chronic hepatitis C

Chronic hepatitis C is a long-lasting infection. Chronic hepatitis C occurs when your body isn't able to fight off the virus. About 75 to 85 percentage of people with astute hepatitis C will develop chronic hepatitis C.¹³

Early diagnosis and treatment of chronic hepatitis C can prevent liver damage. Without treatment, chronic hepatitis C tin can cause chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, liver failure, or liver cancer.

How mutual is hepatitis C in the Usa?

In the U.s.a., hepatitis C is the well-nigh mutual chronic viral infection found in claret and spread through contact with blood.^xiv

Researchers judge that well-nigh 2.seven million to iii.nine million people in the U.s. have chronic hepatitis C.^thirteen Many people who have hepatitis C don't have symptoms and don't know they have this infection.

Since 2006, the number of new hepatitis C infections has been ascension, peculiarly among people younger than age 30 who inject heroin or misuse prescription opioids and inject them.^15,xvi

New screening efforts and more effective hepatitis C treatments are helping doctors identify and cure more people with the disease. With more screening and treatment, hepatitis C may go less common in the future. Researchers estimate that hepatitis C could be a rare disease in the The states by 2036.¹⁷

Who is more likely to go hepatitis C?

People more probable to go hepatitis C are those who

• have injected drugs
• had a blood transfusion or organ transplant before July 1992
• have hemophilia and received clotting gene before 1987
• have been on kidney dialysis
• have been in contact with blood or infected needles at work
• accept had tattoos or body piercings
• have worked or lived in a prison
• were born to a female parent with hepatitis C
• are infected with HIV
• have had more than ane sexual practice partner in the last 6 months or have a history of sexually transmitted disease
• are men who have or had sex with men

In the The states, injecting drugs is the most common mode that people go hepatitis C.^xiii

Should I be screened for hepatitis C?

Doctors normally recommend ane-time screening of all adults ages 18 to 79 for hepatitis C. Screening is testing for a illness in people who have no symptoms. Doctors utilize blood tests to screen for hepatitis C. Many people who accept hepatitis C don't have symptoms and don't know they take hepatitis C. Screening tests tin aid doctors diagnose and treat hepatitis C before information technology causes serious health problems.

Doctors usually recommend onetime screening of all adults ages 18 to 79 for hepatitis C.

What are the complications of hepatitis C?

Without handling, hepatitis C may atomic number 82 to cirrhosis, liver failure, and liver cancer. Early on diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C tin prevent these complications.

Cirrhosis

Cirrhosis is a condition in which the liver slowly breaks down and is unable to role ordinarily. Scar tissue replaces healthy liver tissue and partially blocks the flow of blood through the liver. In the early stages of cirrhosis, the liver continues to part. Even so, as cirrhosis gets worse, the liver begins to neglect.

Liver failure

Too called stop-stage liver disease, liver failure progresses over months, years, or even decades. With terminate-stage liver disease, the liver can no longer perform important functions or replace damaged cells.

Liver cancer

Having chronic hepatitis C increases your chance of developing liver cancer. If chronic hepatitis C causes astringent liver harm or cirrhosis before you receive hepatitis C treatment, you will continue to take an increased chance of liver cancer even afterwards treatment. Your physician may suggest blood tests and an ultrasound or another type of imaging exam to check for liver cancer. Finding cancer at an early stage improves the take a chance of curing the cancer.

What are the symptoms of hepatitis C?

Most people infected with hepatitis C accept no symptoms. Some people with an acute hepatitis C infection may accept symptoms within 1 to 3 months after they are exposed to the virus. These symptoms may include

• dark yellowish urine
• feeling tired
• fever
• gray- or clay-colored stools
• joint pain
• loss of ambition
• nausea
• hurting in your belly
• airsickness
• xanthous eyes and skin, called jaundice

If you have chronic hepatitis C, you most likely will take no symptoms until complications develop, which could be decades afterwards you were infected. For this reason, hepatitis C screening is important, even if you have no symptoms.

What causes hepatitis C?

The hepatitis C virus causes hepatitis C. The hepatitis C virus spreads through contact with an infected person's claret. Contact can occur by

• sharing drug needles or other drug materials with an infected person
• getting an accidental stick with a needle that was used on an infected person
• beingness tattooed or pierced with tools or inks that were not kept sterile—free from all viruses and other microorganisms—and were used on an infected person earlier they were used on you
• having contact with the blood or open sores of an infected person
• using an infected person's razor, toothbrush, or nail clippers
• being built-in to a female parent with hepatitis C
• having unprotected sex with an infected person

Y'all can't get hepatitis C from

• existence coughed or sneezed on past an infected person
• drinking water or eating food
• hugging an infected person
• shaking hands or belongings easily with an infected person
• sharing spoons, forks, and other eating utensils
• sitting adjacent to an infected person

A infant tin't become hepatitis C from chest milk.¹⁸

How do doctors diagnose hepatitis C?

Doctors diagnose hepatitis C based on your medical history, a concrete exam, and blood tests. If you accept hepatitis C, your doc may perform boosted tests to bank check your liver.

Medical history

Your doctor will ask almost your symptoms and whether you have any history of blood transfusions or injected drug employ.

Physical exam

During a physical exam, your doctor will typically examine your body to check for signs of liver impairment such as

• changes in skin color
• swelling in your lower legs, feet, or ankles
• tenderness or swelling in your abdomen

What tests do doctors utilise to diagnose hepatitis C?

Doctors apply claret tests to diagnose hepatitis C. Your doctor may social club boosted tests to check for liver damage, find out how much liver harm you take, or rule out other causes of liver disease.

Blood tests

Your doctor may order i or more blood tests to diagnose hepatitis C. A health care professional will accept a blood sample from yous and send the sample to a lab.

Claret tests for hepatitis C include the following:

• Screening test for antibodies to the hepatitis C virus. A screening blood test volition show whether you have developed antibodies to the hepatitis C virus. A positive antibody exam ways you were exposed to the hepatitis C virus at some betoken. However, the virus may no longer be present in your blood if your torso fought off the infection on its own or if you received treatment that cured the infection.
• Hepatitis C RNA test. If your antibiotic exam is positive, your medico will apply a hepatitis C RNA test to detect RNA—a type of genetic material—from the hepatitis C virus. The hepatitis C RNA examination tin can show whether you still accept the hepatitis C virus and how much virus is in your claret. This information can help your doctor treat the infection. To see if y'all are responding to treatment, your medico may order this test while you lot are undergoing handling to notice out if the amount of virus in your blood is changing.
• Genotype examination. Your doctor tin can use this test to discover out what strain, or form, of hepatitis C virus you have. At least vi specific strains—called genotypes—of hepatitis C be. Genotype 1 is the near mutual hepatitis C genotype in the U.s.a..¹ Your doctor will recommend handling based on which hepatitis C genotype y'all have.

Your doctor may lodge i or more blood tests to diagnose hepatitis C.

Boosted tests

If you've had chronic hepatitis C for a long time, you could take liver harm. Your doctor may recommend additional tests to find out whether y'all accept liver damage, how much liver impairment y'all have, or to rule out other causes of liver illness. These tests may include

• blood tests
• transient elastography, a special ultrasound of your liver
• liver biopsy, in which a dr. uses a needle to take a small-scale piece of tissue from your liver

Doctors typically use liver biopsy just if other tests don't provide plenty information virtually a person'southward liver damage or disease. Talk with your dr. about which tests are all-time for you.

How practice doctors treat hepatitis C?

Doctors treat hepatitis C with antiviral medicines that attack the virus and can cure the disease in most cases.

Several newer medicines, called direct-acting antiviral medicines, have been approved to treat hepatitis C since 2013. Studies show that these medicines tin cure chronic hepatitis C in most people with this disease. These medicines can also cure acute hepatitis C. In some cases, doctors recommend waiting to meet if an acute infection becomes chronic before starting treatment.

Your medico may prescribe 1 or more of these newer, direct-acting antiviral medicines to treat hepatitis C:

• daclatasvir (Daklinza)
• elbasvir/grazoprevir (Zepatier)
• glecaprevir and pibrentasvir (Mavyret)
• ledipasvir/sofosbuvir (Harvoni)
• ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir (Technivie)
• ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir/dasabuvir (Viekira Pak, Viekira XR)
• simeprevir (Olysio)
• sofosbuvir (Sovaldi)
• sofosbuvir/velpatasvir (Epclusa)
• sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir (Vosevi)

Newer medicines are sometimes used forth with these older hepatitis C medicines:

• ribavirin
• peginterferon alfa-2a (Pegasys) or peginterferon alfa-2b (PEG-Intron)

Doctors care for hepatitis C with antiviral medicines that set on the virus.

You may need to take medicines for 8 to 24 weeks to cure hepatitis C. Your doctor volition prescribe medicines and recommend a length of treatment based on

• which hepatitis C genotype yous have
• how much liver damage you accept
• whether you lot have been treated for hepatitis C in the past

Your doctor may order blood tests during and after your handling. Claret tests can show whether the treatment is working. Hepatitis C medicines cure the infection in most people who complete treatment.

Hepatitis C medicines may cause side effects. Talk with your doctor about the side effects of treatment. Check with your dr. earlier taking whatsoever other prescription or over-the-counter medicines.

For safety reasons, talk with your doctor before using dietary supplements, such as vitamins, or any complementary or culling medicines or medical practices.

Cost of hepatitis C medicines

The newer direct-interim antiviral medicines for hepatitis C can be costly. About government and private health insurance prescription drug plans provide some coverage for these medicines. Talk with your dr. about your health insurance coverage for hepatitis C medicines.

Drug companies, nonprofit organizations, and some states offer programs that can aid pay for hepatitis C medicines. If you lot need help paying for medicines, talk with your doc. Acquire more about financial help for hepatitis C medicines.

How do doctors treat the complications of hepatitis C?

If hepatitis C leads to cirrhosis, you should see a doctor who specializes in liver diseases. Doctors can treat the health problems related to cirrhosis with medicines, surgery, and other medical procedures. If you have cirrhosis, you lot have an increased hazard of liver cancer. Your doctor may guild an ultrasound exam to check for liver cancer.

If hepatitis C leads to liver failure or liver cancer, y'all may need a liver transplant.

How tin I protect myself from hepatitis C infection?

If you don't have hepatitis C, you tin help protect yourself from hepatitis C infection by

• non sharing drug needles or other drug materials
• wearing gloves if you have to touch on some other person's blood or open up sores
• making sure your tattoo creative person or body piercer uses sterile tools and unopened ink
• not sharing personal items such toothbrushes, razors, or nail clippers

Hepatitis C can spread from person to person during sex, but the chances are depression. People who have multiple sex partners, have HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases, or who engage in crude or anal sexual practice accept a higher chance of getting hepatitis C. Talk with your dr. most your risk of getting hepatitis C through sex activity and most safe sex activity practices, such as using a latex or polyurethane condom to assist forbid the spread of hepatitis C.

Practise non share drug needles or other drug materials.

If you had hepatitis C in the past and your body fought off the infection or medicines cured the infection, y'all can get hepatitis C again. Follow the steps to a higher place, and talk with your dr. about how to protect yourself from another hepatitis C infection.

If you think you may have been exposed to the hepatitis C virus, see your doctor as soon as possible. Early diagnosis and treatment can aid prevent liver harm.

How can I prevent spreading hepatitis C to others?

If you have hepatitis C, follow the steps to a higher place to avert spreading the infection. Tell your sex partner you accept hepatitis C, and talk with your md about safe sex practices. In addition, you can protect others from infection by telling your doctor, dentist, and other health care providers that yous accept hepatitis C. Don't donate claret or blood products, semen, organs, or tissue.

Is a hepatitis C vaccine bachelor?

Researchers are all the same working on a vaccine for hepatitis C. If you have hepatitis C, talk with your doctor most vaccines for hepatitis A and hepatitis B. These vaccines tin can protect y'all from hepatitis A and hepatitis B infections, which could further impairment your liver.

What should I consume and drink if I accept hepatitis C?

If you have hepatitis C, yous should eat a balanced, good for you diet. Talk with your doctor well-nigh good for you eating. Yous should also avoid alcohol because information technology can cause more liver harm.

References

harristabstair63.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/liver-disease/viral-hepatitis/hepatitis-c

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