Hepatitis C- Basic Information

Hepatitis is the medical term for a condition that has as a result the inflammation of your liver. In most of the hepatitis cases, the inflammation is caused by an infection. The other reasons that can lead to hepatitis are alcohol abuse, different types of medication, poisons and even other diseases. There are different types of hepatitis, one of them being hepatitis C. This particular type of hepatitis is caused by the hepatitis C virus.

Here are some very important facts to remember when suffering form hepatitis C:
- if the inflammation caused by the hepatitis C virus is not reversed in time, it can lead to chronic hepatitis; in turn chronic hepatitis can lead to chronic disease of the liver, that can go as far as liver failure or death;
- if other hepatitis treatments did not work and you find yourself in the situation of a liver failure, the only thing left to do is a liver transplant;
- an astonishing number of almost eighty percent of the people that suffer from hepatitis C also develop the chronic hepatitis C form;

Nowadays, hepatitis C has become a very serious threat worldwide. In some countries, like the United States Of America, at the top of the causes that lead to liver damage is hepatitis C. The hepatitis C virus is very spread and many Americans are victims. The hepatitis C virus is also the reason for about twenty percent of the acute hepatitis and more than fifty percent of the cirrhosis cases are believed to be caused by the hepatitis C virus. There are many people that have antibodies for the hepatitis C virus, thing that means that they were exposed to this hepatitis virus once in their lives.

The hepatitis C virus is very contagious and is mostly transmitted through blood products or blood. Contaminated needles are a very big part of infection with hepatitis C. People who use drugs intravenous and use dirty needles are very much at risk of developing hepatitis C. Blood transfusions are also a risk factor when hepatitis C is concerned. Nowadays, there is a test that is done to see if the blood that will be given to another person is infected with the hepatitis C virus.

There are also other causes of infection withe the hepatitis C virus, but they are less common. The hepatitis C virus can be passed down from mother to infant or through sexual intercourse.

By Groshan Fabiola