Hepatitis C Facts

The odd thing about Hepatitis C is that while you might have it you may not know you have it.  Sometimes the symptoms take years to show up. While other times the symptoms of this infection will show within six to eight months. If it's the acute type someone then the first symptoms are usually nausea, dark urine, and unending tiredness. Of the people who have acute Hepatitis C twenty five percent will completely recover with the proper treatment.  Unfortunately the other seventy five percent will have it permanently. This is called chronic Hepatitis C.

Chronic Hepatitis C is a confusing disease. Some people will have the infection but it will have no affect on them at all. It will remain inactive for years, potentially as long as ten years, before there are any symptoms.  There will also be no obvious signs of liver damage if the infection lays dormant. These people may only find out they have Hepatitis C because of blood work done during a yearly check-up.

While in others the symptoms might be undeniable.  They may show signs of being very tired all the time, have a decrease in their appetite and diarrhea.  Their urine and stool may be the wrong color with the stool being too light and the urine too dark. Some will seem to have a low-grade fever all the time. They may suffer from stomach pains, nausea and tenderness in the upper body. Their eyes may take on a yellowish tint as might their skin. These are signs of jaundice.  When people with these symptoms see their health care providers it may be discovered that their liver enzymes are as much as twenty times higher than they should be.

Those with chronic Hepatitis C eventually develop liver damage in the form of cirrhosis of the liver. This disease does irreparable damage to the liver consisting of scarring that interferes with normal liver function.  But this can take ten or even twenty years from when the hepatitis infection first sets in.  About five percent of these patients eventually will go on to develop liver cancer, but this can take twenty to forty years.  Anyone, not just those with Hepatitis C, who develops cirrhosis, will eventually see the onset of liver cancer. The average time in this case is seventeen years.

Hepatitis C is the single most likely cause of a person requiring a liver transplant.  Close to one thousand liver transplants are performed in the United States for this reason every year.  Sadly it is also the cause of as many as ten thousand deaths annually. Although research continues there is no cure for Hepatitis C nor is there a vaccine against it.  One reason is that this infection is constantly mutating and so even if a vaccine were to be found the infection might mutate so quickly that it would be unusable before it had the opportunity to be used. Prevention is the best medicine when it comes to containing the Hepatitis C virus.

Hepatitis news on the Web

Hepatitis C sufferers tell how 'manky' blood devastated their lives SCOTTISH patients infected with hepatitis C or HIV through blood products have revealed the devastating impact on their lives as the first stage of a major inquiry ended.

Hepatitis C Spikes Among Young Heroin Users The Department of Public Health says infection rates for Hepatitis C in 15- to 25-year-olds have almost doubled since 2002. But there’s no money in this year’s budget for Hep C prevention or to treat new patients.

Vertex hepatitis C drug helps the hard-to-treat CAMBRIDGE -- Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Tuesday that a late-stage clinical trial showed its hepatitis C drug candidate telaprevir proved effective for patients who hadn't been helped by other treatments. Vertex Pharmaceuticals - Clinical trial - Telaprevir - Hepatitis C - Drug

For biotechs, no easy task Hepatitis C, a serious medical problem around the world, is also one of the most important disease targets for the state's biotechnology industry. Hepatitis C - Biotechnology - Hepatitis - Business - Health

12-16 mln Vietnamese infected with Hepatitis B The Vietnam Association for the Study of Liver Disease recently estimated that 15 to 20 percent of Vietnam’s population (12 to 16 million people) is infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV).

60% Rise In Deaths From Liver Disease In Last Decade: Hepatitis C Is An Increasing Contributor Huge variations in hepatitis C services in hospitals across the country are revealed in a new report by the All-Party Parliamentary Hepatology Group and The Hepatitis C Trust. In The Dark found widely differing policies on who should receive treatment and the level of specialist support and care available. Hepatitis C is a preventable and treatable blood-borne virus. It is estimated that between ...

Quiz: Your Hepatitis C Knowledge Test your knowledge of Hepatitis C with our quiz.

Vertex, J&J Hepatitis C Drug Works After Others Fail Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc .’s most advanced experimental drug, in development with Johnson & Johnson, worked in patients with hepatitis C who didn’t respond to other treatment, a study found.

Biotech Busts And Breakthroughs The competition for new hepatitis C drugs is heating up. Wall Street is already picking winners.

Bristol-Myers Buys Hepatitis Partner for $885 Million Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said it plans to buy ZymoGenetics Inc. for $885 million to gain full ownership of a hepatitis C drug the companies are developing.