Research Paper On Hepatitis C

This research paper is going to review today’s silent killer, the Hepatitis C virus. This paper will talk about the description of the disease, the signs and symptoms, the etiology and risk factors, diagnostic studies, treatments and prognosis of this disease. I had lived with this disease for over ten years before diagnosed so it is important to understand the signs and symptoms so the disease can be identified and a treatment plan can be identified as the sooner it is treated the more likely it will eradicate the disease.

Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus. According to related research, about 2.7 million persons in the United States have chronic hepatitis C virus infection, and globally about 130–150 million people have chronic hepatitis C infection.

Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the Hepatitis C virus. The disease can be either acute or a chronic infection, which can be mild or a lifelong disease. This disease also is the major cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. The disease is slow moving and sometimes take up to thirty years to damage the liver. In the United States there are an estimated three to four million people with the disease and are not even aware. Approximately thirty percent of the individuals infected within six months have no symptoms and will not even be aware that they have the disease. In the remaining seventy percent infected the disease will become chronic. According to statics one hundred and seventy million people are chronically infected worldwide.

Hayley is a 24yo, G1 P0, who was seen for a consultation due to hepatitis C. The patient does have a prior history of substance usage but states that she has been clean throughout the entire pregnancy. She does periodically use Goody powders prn and she was told to discontinue this. She also has issues with depression and anxiety and is on Zoloft 50 mg daily. She believes that a viral load was drawn but in looking at the labwork I do not have those results currently. Her hepatitis C antibody test was positive. Overall, she denies any complaints with the pregnancy to date.

Hepatitis C is an inflammation of the liver caused by a virus. It was discovered about twenty-eight years ago. The liver is very essential to life because it has many important functions in our bodies. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus. Hepatitis C is not a virus that you can visibly see unless you run a blood test and discover it in the blood. Hepatitis C is contagious but it is treatable and is considered cured if the virus is no longer detectable in your blood. Considering that some of the Hepatitis C symptoms are similar to other viral symptoms, the doctor has to diagnose the patient to officially confirm the virus. Hepatitis C is easily spread and is most common in teenagers and adults. The most common ways to spread Hepatitis C is

Hepatitis C is a form of liver inflammation caused by the hepacivirus, a member of the Flaviviridae family.It is a highly infectious blood born disease most commonly transmitted by shared needles among drug users. According to the CDC it affects approximately 3.9 million Americans and unfortunately 2.7 million of those individuals are chronically infected. Because the signs and symptoms may not appear sometimes for up to 20-30 years, many people may die from the chronic illness as the disease has a higher treatment response in the acute stages.

Hepatitis C is transmitted parenterally, often through IV drug use and sexual contact. The CDC links the increase in prevalence of this disease to a rise in injection drug use, especially in white adolescents and young adults who live in non-urban settings. Acute infection progresses to chronic disease in 75-85% of cases. Hepatitis C is usually asymptomatic, even in the presence of liver disease. Chronic hepatitis C is the leading cause of liver related death and liver cancer in the western world. (Dan, 2015)

Hepatitis can be defined as the inflammation of the liver . It can be caused by toxins, certain drugs, some diseases, heavy alcohol use, bacterial and viral infections. The most common types of hepatitis are Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C. The similarities between theses hepatitis A, B, and C are they caused by viruses but only the viruses are different. Eventhough each type cause similar symptom of diseases, they actually are transmitted in different ways affect the liver in different way .Hepatitis A appears only as an acute or newly occurring infection and does not become chronic and the patient usually will improve without invasive treatment like hepatitis A and C .Hepatitis B and C also begin as acute infection but because

There is no doubt that hepatitis is one of the most dangerous disease and has its bad and negative effects. At the beginning hepatitis is a medical condition that means injury to the liver with inflammation of the liver cells. Simply hepatitis is a disease that includes any type of inflammation of the liver. It may present in acute or chronic forms. Doctors call the inflammation that lasts less than six months acute hepatitis and inflammation that lasts longer than six months chronic hepatitis.

Hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection is one of the many chronic illnesses that disproportionately affect the 2 million persons currently incarcerated in US jails and prisons. (ACA, 2015). HCV is most frequently acquired through exposure to infected blood in persons who injected drugs any time in their lifetime. Offenders are statistically at increased risk for bloodborne pathogen infections such as HCV because of the strong association of chronic addiction and criminal behavior. Correctional health care systems have more patients with HCV infection, on a percentage basis, than any other major health care system in the United States.

It is also one of the leading known causes of liver disease. Approximately, 180 million people are infected worldwide with HCV, in the United States. The infection prevalence is estimated to be around 4 million people, with an estimated of 17000 new infections in 2010 in United States.(7) Infection with HCV is a common cause of both acute and chronic liver disease. It is frequently a silent disease with few clinical manifestations and it also known as “silent killer”. However, chronic hepatitis C is a common cause of cirrhosis, end stage liver disease, and hepatocellular carcinoma. In the United States, it is the single major cause of chronic liver disease hence the principal reason for liver transplantation in

Hepatitis C has developed into a significant public health issue that poses challenges because of the nature of its gestation period. The disease is asymptomatic so persons that have the disease might appear healthy for years unaware that they have the infection. The difference in genotypes in relation to diagnosis also presents another challenge to doctors. However, with improved techniques of disease diagnosis, it will be easier to detect the disease in its early stages of development which will prevent severe damage to the liver that only occurs when the disease has advanced to worse states. Liver cirrhosis and hepatomas are common problems that occur in patients when the diagnosis is confirmed at late stages.

Hepatitis C is an inflammation of the liver’s cells and tissues caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

It has been observed that drug users are at great threat for HCV infections. HCV (Hepatitis C Virus) is more easily spread than HIV (Human Immunodefiency Virus), because its prevalence is greater than HIV. According to Macias et.al (2008), it has been observed that non-injection drug users have higher rates of hepatitis C infection in comparison to overall population. They attributed this to following reasons; sexual behaviors, tattoo or piercing materials, nail or hair clippers, and razors. Some studies have established that non-injector drug users do not inject due to fear of overdose, family problem, decline in income and health issues such as collapsed veins, scars from abscesses, fear of needles and overdosing (Sotheran et al., 1999).

Hepatitis C Virus, HCV, means inflammation of the liver. Worldwide, this blood-borne pathogen newly infects over 3 million people each year and can seem endemic in some parts of the world. Yet, we have come a remarkable way since HCV was only identified in 1989. The extent in our understanding has brought several people at ease, but we still have much more to learn. Today, 4 million people in the United States are living with HCV and 170 million around the globe. There is only a small portion of people who are infected that develop serious complications, the bigger portion who are afflicted with this disease is giving us many challenges in the medical field. Newly