Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus. It is a type of viral hepatitis that primarily affects the liver. Over many years it often leads to liver disease and occasionally cirrhosis. There is no vaccine against hepatitis C. Prevention includes harm reduction efforts among people who inject drugs.
About Hepatitis C in brief
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus. It is a type of viral hepatitis that primarily affects the liver. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, abdominal pain, and yellow tinged skin occurs. The virus persists in the liver in about 75% to 85% of those initially infected. Over many years it often leads to liver disease and occasionally cirrhosis. There is no vaccine against hepatitis C. Prevention includes harm reduction efforts among people who inject drugs, testing donated blood, and treatment of people with chronic infection. An estimated 71 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C as of 2015. 80% of the health burden is concentrated in low- and middle-income countries, with the highest levels of prevalence in Africa and Central and East Asia. Those who develop cirrhotic liver cancer or liver failure may require a liver transplant. Those with cir rhosis have a 20-fold greater risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma, a form of liver cancer, in addition to hepatitis B, HIV, or HIV in alcoholics and in HIV-infected people. In the United States, screening for HCV infection is recommended in all adults age 18 to 79 years old. The risk from a transfusion is less than one per two million using blood screening, the risk of a blood transfusion from an infected mother to her baby during birth is 1 in 2,000 to 1 in 1,000.
In those with cir Rhosis 5-fold or more, excess alcohol consumption increases the risk. In addition to liver ascension, hepatitis C can lead to hypertension, liver failure, liver cancer and liver portal hypertension in those who have been infected with the virus for at least six months. It can be cured with antiviral medications such as sofosbuvir or simeprevir. Peginterferon and ribavirin were earlier generation treatments that had a cure rate of less than 50% and greater side effects. Getting access to the newer treatments however can be expensive. The hepatitis C is the leading reason for liver transplantation, though the virus usually recurs after transplantation. The existence of hepatitis C – originally identifiable only as atype of non-A non-B hepatitis – was suggested in the 1970s and proven in 1989. hepatitis C infects only humans and chimpanzees. About 167,000 deaths due to liver cancer and 326,000 Deaths due to Cirrhosis occurred in 2015 due to hepatitis C in the U.S. This occurs at a rate of 1–3 per year. This is more common in those also infected with schistosoma, schistocellular cancer, HIV in male sex offenders, and HIV inalcoholics, and in those with hepatitis B and hepatitis B-positive people. The disease is the cause of 27% of hepato cell carcinoma cases and 25% of cirrhoma cases over 30 years old.
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This page is based on the article Hepatitis C published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 04, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
