Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C Definition
According to The American Heritage Dictionaries, Hepatitis C is "an infection of the liver that is caused by an RNA virus, is transmitted primarily by blood and blood products, as in blood transfusions or intravenous drug use, and sometimes through sexual contact". There are at least 6 distinct HCV genotypes identified. The genotype refers to the genetic makeup, as distinguished from the physical appearance, of the virus, which determines a specific characteristic. The genotype 1 of the hepatitis C virus is the most frequent.
Hepatitis C virus can cause both acute (newly developed) and chronic forms of the disease, and is one of the commonest form of hepatitis after hepatitis A and B. Unlike hepatitis B, hepatitis C virus is more likely to produce chronic liver disease (80% from people infected with hepatitis C virus will develop chronic hepatitis as compared to 5% - 10% from adults infected with the hepatitis B virus).
Acute hepatitis C refers to the first 6 months after infection with HCV. Remarkably, less then one third of the patients experience some nonspecific mild symptoms (such as decreased appetite, fatigue, abdominal pain, jaundice, itching, and flu-like symptoms) which rarely lead to a specific diagnosis of hepatitis C. The hepatitis C virus persisting for more than six months implies the presence of chronic infection with hepatitis C virus. Just like the acute phase, the chronic one is also asymptomatic, the disease being usually discovered unintentionally.
Statistics revealed that more than 80% of the infected people with hepatitis C virus will develop chronic disease. Among those, if the disease remains untreated, almost one-third progress to liver cirrhosis in less than 20 years, another third progress to cirrhosis within 30 years and the last third of infected patients appear to progress so slowly that they are unlikely to develop cirrhosis within their lifetimes
Short history of Hepatitis C
Although the hepatitis C virus remained unidentified until 1988, his existence was noticed since 1974 when some researchers from the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) demonstrated that most post-transfusion hepatitis cases were not due to hepatitis A and B viruses. Initially called non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH), the virus could not be identified for over a decade, despite all the researchers' efforts. The unknown organism was finally identified in 1988 by some researchers from Chiron Corporation who used molecular cloning in order, and the first articles about the new hepatitis virus appeared in 1989.
Incubation period and infectivity of Hepatitis C
The hepatitis C virus has an incubation period virus which ranges from 14 to 180 days (mean = 45 days). Most of the persons infected with hepatitis C virus don't present any sign on infection, and the few who do have symptoms are rarely diagnosed with hepatitis C. That happens because most of the symptoms (such as decreased appetite, fatigue, abdominal pain, jaundice, itching, and flu-like symptoms) are specific to other diseases. People that suffer from chronic HCV infection have a much higher risk of liver failure (cirrhosis) and liver cancer. Chronic HCV-related liver disease is the leading indication for liver transplant.