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DESCRIPTION

Hepatitis C is a disease caused by a virus that lives in your liver cells. This virus can cause liver inflammation, and over time become chronic hepatitis. This can become cirrhosis of the liver and sometimes become liver cancer. Hepatitis is an infectious virus resulting from coming into contact with someone who has this disease. You can get in it from a blood transfusion, an organ transplant, or by sharing needles to inject illegal drugs. By coming into contact with an infected person's blood or semen, you can get Hepatitis C.

You can also get it by sharing an infected person's personal care items such as a toothbrush, razor, or cuticle scissors. But you can't get it from casual contact with an infected person such as kissing, sneezing, coughing, or sharing food with them. Rarely, a mother giving birth to a baby, can spread this disease and health workers have been known to contract it. It is a very common virus with 150 to 200 million people worldwide having Hepatitis C.

SYMPTOMS

There is an incubation period when you first contract hepatitis C that is called acute hepatitis. This first stage of hepatitis can be anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months. Between 60 percent to 70 percent of people infected with Hepatitis C have no symptoms in the first few months. Some people have mild symptoms such as the following:

Decreased appetite
Fatigue
Abdominal pain
Dark urine
Itching
Flu-like symptoms
Jaundice, (yellowing of the eyes), develops when the symptoms start to go away.

Hepatitis C is detectable in the blood within 1 to 3 weeks after contracting it, with 15 to 40 percent of those infected clearing it out in the first phase. Many people go on to develop chronic hepatitis C, without having any symptoms. A person can commonly have this disease for many years without knowing it. Symptoms of chronic hepatitis may be:

Fatigue
Marked weight loss
Flu-like symptoms
Muscle pain
Joint pain
Intermittent low-grade fevers
Itching
Sleep disturbances
Abdominal pain
Appetite changes
Diarrhea
Dyspepsia
Depres sion
Headaches
Mood swings

When hepatitis C moves to cirrhosis of the liver, it causes decreased liver function, and it can cause these symptoms:

Accumulation of fluid in the abdomen
Brushing and bleeding
Bone pain
Enlarged veins
Jaundice
Fatty stools
Mental Impairment

TREATMENT

First, you must find out if you have hepatitis C. When your blood is tested before a blood donation or at a regular checkup to the doctor, you might find out by accident. It is better to find out while it is treatable.

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