Hepatitis C is a viral disease that leads to inflammation of the liver.
If you've been diagnosed with hepatitis C, you may be worrying about your health.
Let's answer some questions you may have about hepatitis C.
Hepatitis C is irritation and swelling of the liver from infection with the hepatitis C virus.
You can get hepatitis C if you have ever injected street drugs or shared needles or syringes,
have contact with blood or needles at work such as a health-care worker,
received blood or organs from a donor who has hepatitis C,
have been on long-term kidney dialysis,
or were born to a mother infected with hepatitis C.
Less often, you can get hepatitis C if you share a toothbrush or razors with someone who has the disease
have unprotected sex with someone infected with hepatitis C, or have received a tattoo,
body piercing, or acupuncture in an unregulated setting.
Most people newly infected with hepatitis C virus will not have symptoms.
Less than 10 percent will have jaundice or yellow skin that gets better.
In some people the disease goes away on its own.
But most people infected with hepatitis C don’t know they have it and will have it for a long time.
Long-term, or chronic, hepatitis C infection can lead to liver scarring, a condition called cirrhosis, or even liver cancer.
Most people with hepatitis C have the chronic form.
If your doctor suspects hepatitis C, you will need blood tests to confirm the diagnosis.
If you've had the disease for a long time, your doctor can do blood tests, a liver ultrasound,
or sometimes a liver biopsy to see how much damage has been done to your liver.
While a vaccine to prevent hepatitis C is not yet available,
treatment for hepatitis C has greatly improved over the last few years.
Your doctor may prescribe one or more combinations of the newer, direct-acting antiviral medicines,
depending on which subtype of hepatitis C you are infected with and whether or not you have cirrhosis.
You may need to take medicines for about 8 to 12 weeks.
Your doctor may order blood tests during and after your treatment to see how the treatment is working.
Most people who complete the treatment with these medicines no longer have evidence of the hepatitis C virus and can be considered effectively cured.
For people with advanced liver disease, liver transplantation may also be considered.
Because hepatitis C increases the risk of getting liver cancer,
follow-up monitoring is needed even in those who are considered cured of their disease.