Hepatitis C
#62
Hepatitis C is a viral infection caused by the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) that causes liver inflammation.
Causes
Hepatitis C is spread through the blood (blood-borne virus), which means you can’t contract it from getting sneezed/coughed on or skin-to-skin contact.
Some ways that the virus is spread include infants that are born to a mother who has hepatitis C and getting in contact with the blood of an infected person.
Symptoms
Symptoms of hepatitis C may not appear until 2 weeks to 6 months after getting infected. In fact, many people do not experience any symptoms at all.
For the people who do experience symptoms, common ones include:
darker urine
lighter stool
fatigue
fever
joint/abdomen pain
nausea & vomiting
loss of appetite
jaundice
Types
Acute hep C:
goes away in 6 months without treatment
Chronic hep C:
lifelong
may develop into other liver conditions such as chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, liver failure, or liver cancer
Treatment
Antiviral medications are able to cure more than 95% of people with chronic hepatitis C in just 8 to 12 weeks.
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