Hepatitis C
What I need to know about Hepatitis C
- What is hepatitis C?
- What is the liver?
- What causes hepatitis C?
- Who gets hepatitis C?
- How could I get hepatitis C?
- What are the symptoms of hepatitis C?
- What is chronic hepatitis C?
- How is hepatitis C diagnosed?
- How is hepatitis C treated?
- How can I avoid getting hepatitis C?
- What should I do if I think I have been exposed to the hepatitis C virus?
- Points to Remember
- Hope through Research
What is hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is a liver disease. Hepatitis * meansinflammation of the liver. Inflammation is the painful, red swelling that results when tissues of the body become injured or infected. Inflammation can cause organs to not work properly.
What is the liver?
The liver is an organ that does many important things.
The liver
- removes harmful chemicals from your blood
- fights infection
- helps digest food
- stores nutrients and vitamins
- stores energy
You cannot live without a liver.
What causes hepatitis C?
The hepatitis C virus causes hepatitis C. Viruses are germs that can cause sickness. For example, the flu is caused by a virus. People can pass viruses to each other.
Who gets hepatitis C?
Anyone can get hepatitis C, but some people are at higher risk, including:
- people who were born to a mother with hepatitis C
- people who have had more than one sex partner in the last 6 months or have a history of sexually transmitted disease
- people who had a blood transfusion or organ transplant before July 1992
- people with hemophilia who received blood products before 1987
- people who have used illegal injection drugs
How could I get hepatitis C?
You could get hepatitis C through contact with an infected person’s blood.
You could get hepatitis C from:
- being born to a mother with hepatitis C
- having sex with an infected person
- being tattooed or pierced with unsterilized tools that were used on an infected person
- getting an accidental needle stick with a needle that was used on an infected person
- using an infected person’s razor or toothbrush
- sharing drug needles with an infected person
You could get hepatitis C by sharing drug needles with an infected person.
You cannot get hepatitis C from:
- shaking hands with an infected person
- hugging an infected person
- sitting next to an infected person
What are the symptoms of hepatitis C?
Most people have no symptoms until the virus causes liver damage, which can take 10 or more years to happen. Others have one or more of the following symptoms:
- yellowish eyes and skin, called jaundice
- a longer than usual amount of time for bleeding to stop
- swollen stomach or ankles
- easy bruising
- tiredness
- upset stomach
- fever
- loss of appetite
- diarrhea
- light-colored stools
- dark yellow urine