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people who feel perfectly healthy could be infected with a potentially
deadly virus called hepatitis C. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the
most common chronic blood-borne infections in the United States. In the
next 10 to 20 years, deaths due to hepatitis C are expected to triple and
could exceed the annual number of deaths due to HIV, the virus that causes
AIDS. If you are one of the 4 million Americans who are infected with HCV,
it's what you don't know that could hurt you.
What is hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is an infection of the
liver that often produces no signs or symptoms. Many of those infected
with chronic HCV already have suffered serious liver damage by the time
symptoms such as fatigue, mild fever, and aching joints and muscles occur.
If left untreated, HCV can cause permanent scarring of the liver, liver
cancer and even death. In addition to being the leading cause of liver
transplantation in the United States, HCV causes more than 8,000 deaths
each year.
"Hepatitis C does not discriminate," says Alan P.
Brownstein, president and CEO of the American Liver Foundation. "It
affects men, women and children from all walks of life, and all people
need to understand their potential risk factors."
HCV is spread primarily through blood to blood contact. Two
common risk factors are contact with infected blood through injection drug
use or a blood transfusion prior to 1992, when there was no test to detect
HCV. An estimated 300,000 Americans who received blood transfusions or
organ transplants before 1992 are believed to have been infected this way.
Getting Tested and Treated
If you think that you may have been
exposed to HCV, see your doctor and ask to be tested. Early diagnosis and
treatment could potentially restore good health. Therapy with interferon
alone or in combination with ribavirin can help many people with chronic
hepatitis C. Additional treatment options are being developed. More
research is needed to develop cures for chronic hepatitis.
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