WHAT IS HEPATITIS C?
Hepatitis C is inflammation of the liver due to a virus called the hepatitis C virus (HCV). After the discovery of hepatitis A virus in 1973 and hepatitis B virus in 1963, the remaining hepatitis viruses were lumped into the category of non-A non-B (NANB) hepatitis. Any cases of acute or chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis without identifiable causes were suspected to be a result of the NANB hepatitis viruses. In 1989, a major breakthrough regarding this mysterious and intriguing disease occurred—the hepatitis C virus was identified. Now, HCV is believed to be the virus responsible for more than 90 percent of all cases of NANB hepatitis.
HCV is the most common cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer in the United States. More than 4 million Americans (approximately 2 percent of the United States population) and more than 170 million people worldwide( approximately 3 percent of the world’s population) are infected with HCV. (HCV is more prevalent in Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, South East Asia and the Western Pacific than in the United States). The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that only a small percentage (probably around 5 percent) of infected individuals are even aware that they harbor this virus in their bodies.
People between the ages of 40-59 are most likely to be diagnosed with HCV. And it is estimated that there will be a fourfold increase in the number of adults diagnosed with HCV by the year 2015. While HCV can infect anyone with risk factors, it has been found to be more common among certain subgroups of people. For example, the prevalence (number or percentage of existing people that are infected) of HCV among prison inmates is between 39-54 percent, among intravenous drug users between 70-90 percent, and among those attending Veterans Administration outpatient clinics between 18-40 percent.
While the incidence of people becoming acutely infected with HCV is decreasing in the United States, approximately 8,000 to 12,000 deaths are attributed to hepatitis C each year . Moreover, it is estimated that in the absence of appropriate therapy, this number will triple within the next two decades. In fact, chronic hepatitis C is the most common reason that a person will need to undergo a liver transplant in the United States.All contents of this article are Copyright © Melissa Palmer, MD
Melissa Palmer, MD is the author of " Dr. Melissa Palmer's Guide of Hepatitis and Liver Disease". (Published 2004. Penguin Putnam).
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