Viral hepatitis is a virus that causes inflammation of the liver, which means inflammation of the liver. Type C is a member of the family of viruses that include hepatitis A and hepatitis B. The viruses behave differently and have different modes of transmission. Hepatitis C can cause serious liver damage, liver failure, liver cancer, and even death. So it is very important to find relief for hepatitis.
About 2.7-3.9 million people in the U.S. currently live with chronic hepatitis C infection. 75%-85% of people infected with hepatitis C are infected with chronic hepatitis C. The virus is most common in baby boomers who represent 75% of infected adults. The rates of hepatitis C were the highest in the 1970s and 1980s, the time when many baby boomers were likely infected. Many people who have hepatitis C don’t know they have it because the virus may not produce symptoms until decades after infection.
Hepatitis C is caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and is spread primarily through injection drug use. Sexual transmission and transmission from mother to child during pregnancy are less common routes. Acute symptoms, when present, can appear anywhere from two weeks to five months after initial exposure. While the majority of acutely infected individuals will spontaneously clear the virus with six months of infection, as many as 30 percent of those with chronic infection will progress to cirrhosis.
The treatment of chronic hepatitis infection has been considered something of a success story with newer generation direct acting antivirals (DAAs) able to achieve cure rates of greater than 95 percent in some populations. A “cure” is defined as being able to sustain undetectable levels of HCV in your blood (also known as a sustained viral response or SVR) for 24 weeks following the completion of therapy.
Therapy is dictated by the genetic type (genotype) of virus a person is infected with—classified as genotype 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6—as well as the stage of liver disease. While treatment can be prescribed during acute infection, and it is most typically indicated in chronically infected individuals, particularly those with cirrhosis.
This virus is also a major global killer. Worldwide, the disease affects between 150 to 185 million people. Hepatitis C-related deaths number between 350,000 and 500,000 annually. A guesstimate for Pakistan suggests 10-15 million affected, with 28,000 cases added to this number every year. Yet its treatment is prohibitively expensive, with the injection-based treatment costing about $18,000 for a 48-week course in the US, thus pricing out patients in low- and middle-income countries.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This may happen through transfusions of HCV contaminated blood and blood products, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injection drug use. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common. There is no vaccine for HCV. The best way to prevent Hepatitis C is by avoiding behaviors that can spread the disease, especially injecting drugs.