What is Hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by Hepatitis C Virus or HCV. Nearly 3.5 million people suffer from this disease in the US alone. Nearly 70% to 80% of the acute infection cases do not display any sort of symptoms at all. This disease is termed as the silent or invisible disease because there aren’t any symptoms in a majority of cases and even if there is the symptoms are rather common.
The disease causes liver disease and in several cases the liver cirrhosis. Chronic infection can be cured in more than 90% of the cases and in some cases where there is liver cirrhosis is extreme a transplant is required.
Symptoms:
Hepatitis C is known as a silent or invisible disease because most victims don’t show any symptoms at all and if they most of its symptoms are so common that one doesn’t realize that are suffering from Hepatitis C until much later. Nearly 70% to 80% of the patients do not show any symptom at all. The symptoms are mild and flu like with fever along with the ones mentioned below:
-Jaundice: This is the most common symptom, it includes yellow eyes and skin along with dark colored urine.
-Stomach pain: as mentioned above the symptoms of this disease done stand out and symptoms include something as common as stomach pain.
-Joint and muscle pain: Muscle and join pain is another common symptom that most patients suffer.
-Itchy Skin: If you have been suffering from itchy skin for over six weeks along with any of the above mentioned skin please consult a doctor.
-Abnormalities in urine and bowel movement
-Loss of appetite: Again a very common symptom that is induced from a variety of reasons including stress. But if you suffer from loss of appetite with jaundice and the other symptoms please do get yourself checked.
-Nausea: Vomiting and squishiness, another common symptom which when combined with stomach ache can give a wrong diagnosis.
-Fatigue: Tiredness. Again another symptom which when accompanied with the above four symptoms may be assumed as an after effect of Jaundice.
Ways it can spread:
You can get this disease if you:
– Share drugs and needles
-Have unsafe sex with multiple partners who have STD and HIV infections and rough sex.
-Use used needles that is previously used by person suffering from Hepatitis C. -From a mother to her child: A pregnant mother can pass this infection to her unborn child.
-Blood transfusion: if you receive blood from a person infected with this disease.
Precautions:
What doesn’t cause Hepatitis C:
– Hugging
-Kissing
-Coughing
-Sneezing
-Sharing utensils or glasses
-Sharing food and water
-Casual contact
-Breastfeeding your baby if you are detected with Hepatitis C, but please ensure that your nipples aren’t cracked and bleeding.
What not to share:
-Anything that could possibly have your blood on it, which includes razors, toothbrushes, nail clippers etc.
-Don’t share needles or similar equipment’s with others. Also if you are doing drugs, that too injectable street drugs please opt for a treatment program.
-Do not donate blood, organs, tissue or semen.
-Anything that could possibly have your blood on it, which includes razors, toothbrushes, nail clippers etc.
Be extra careful with:
-Open wounds, blisters, cuts or sores and cover them with bandages, and do not let it come in contact with others.
-Dispose of tampons, sanitary napkins, tissues, used bandages, and anything else that might have your blood on it.
-Clean spilled blood from surfaces with a bleach.
-Thoroughly wash hands and any object that comes in contact with your blood with soap.
Sex and Hepatitis C:
Hepatitis C can spread through sexual intercourse, but it’s a rare phenomenon. In fact, according to CDC, if you are monogamous, the risk is rather low extremely rare that they don’t even recommend the use of condom. Also, Hepatitis C doesn’t spread through oral sex. But if you have multiple partners, it is advisable that you protect your partner with the use of a condom.
Cure –Harvoni®:
Hepatitis C Medications:
Hepatitis C is an infection in the liver caused by the presence of the virus called HCV or hepatitis C virus. Just as there are different blood groups, this disease is also categorized into genotypes numbered from 1 through 6. According to statistics, about 75% of the HCV affected patients have are diagnosed with the genotype 1 HCV. There are no vaccinations available in the case HCV and can only be prevented from cautious activities when near already affected patients. It can be prevented by avoiding contact with infected fluids, or sharing needles as the disease can spread through physical contact. There are many drugs that are prescribed by specialists who treat for HCV. One among those is harvoni® which is a suitable drug for HCV genotypes 1, 4, 5 and 6. HARVONI® is a combination of two antiviral medications named ledipasvir and sofosbuvir. These prevent the multiplication of the Hepatitis C virus within the body. Before the physician is prescribing the medicine to HCV affected person, he/she will consider several factors like the treatment history in case he has already been treated for this disease, level of virus within the body, allergies to any of the components in the drug and extent of damage to the liver. In case this medicine has to be combined with another drug called ribavirin, it might affect pregnancy. The drug when prescribed separately does not affect the unborn baby and does not pass on to the infants through breast milk. Also it is not researched whether this drug is safe for children below the age of 18 years. The prescribed dosage for the drug is one pill a day and the most commonly suggested treatment cycle is a period of 12 weeks and the patients is advised to take the medicine at the same time every day.