Many people eventually develop chronic liver disease, which can range from mild to severe and include cirrhosis scarring of the liver and liver cancer. Chronic liver disease in people with hepatitis C usually happens slowly, without any signs or symptoms, over several decades. If you are infected with the hepatitis C virus, you can spread it to others even if you have no symptoms.
Regular testing is recommended for people who currently inject and share needles, syringes, or other drug preparation equipment and for those currently getting maintenance hemodialysis.
A blood test, called an HCV antibody test, is used to find out if someone has ever been infected with the hepatitis C virus. This test, sometimes called the anti-HCV test, looks for antibodies, which are proteins released into the bloodstream when someone gets infected with the virus that causes hepatitis C. Test results can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to come back.
Rapid anti-HCV tests are available in some health clinics, and the results of these tests are available in 20—30 minutes. Your doctor will help interpret the results from your HCV antibody test and help guide you through next steps. It is important to know that. After exposure to the hepatitis C virus, it can take 8—11 weeks for an HCV antibody test to be positive. For most people who are infected, the anti-HCV blood test will become positive by 6 months after exposure.
For people with hepatitis C, it is common for liver enzyme levels to go up and down, sometimes returning to normal or near normal. Some people with hepatitis C have liver enzyme levels that are normal for over a year even though they have chronic liver disease. People with chronic hepatitis C and those with cirrhosis even if they have been cured of their hepatitis C infection should be monitored regularly by a doctor, because these people have a continued risk of complications of advanced liver disease, including liver cancer.
In addition, people living with hepatitis C should. There is no evidence that people can get hepatitis C from food handlers, teachers, or other service providers without blood-to-blood contact. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Viral Hepatitis. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Hepatitis C Questions and Answers for the Public. Minus Related Pages. Index of Questions Overview and Statistics.
What is hepatitis? What is the difference between hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C? What is hepatitis C? How serious is chronic hepatitis C? How likely is it that someone with acute hepatitis C will become chronically infected?
Is it possible for someone with hepatitis C to get better without treatment? How common is acute hepatitis C in the United States?
How common is chronic hepatitis C in the United States? How is hepatitis C spread? Can you get hepatitis C more than once? Can hepatitis C virus be spread through sexual contact? Can you get hepatitis C by getting a tattoo or piercing? Can hepatitis C be spread within a household? Who is at risk for hepatitis C? Can a person be infected with both HIV and the hepatitis C virus? What is the risk of a pregnant woman passing hepatitis C to her baby?
Can women with hepatitis C breastfeed their babies? Can I get hepatitis C from a mosquito or other insect bite? Mother-to-child transfer at birth. Tattoos or body piercings done with contaminated needles or by a nonprofessional. Blood transfusions and organ transplants before Sexual contact with someone who has HCV.
Exposure to blood containing HCV that has not been cleaned up. Who should get tested for hepatitis C? All pregnant women during each pregnancy Children born to mothers with HCV infection. Anyone who has injected drugs and shared needles, syringes, or other drug preparation equipment at least once, even if it was many years ago. People who are receiving hemodialysis. People who received an organ transplant, transfusion of blood, or blood components before July People who were notified that they received blood from a donor who later tested positive for HCV infection.
Healthcare, emergency medical, and public safety personnel after needle sticks, sharps, or mucosal exposures to HCV positive blood. People who received clotting factor concentrates produced before People with HIV People who have abnormal liver tests or liver disease.
Can a mother with hepatitis C infect her infant during birth? Should a woman with hepatitis C be advised against breastfeeding? When should children born to HCV-infected mothers be tested to see if they were infected at birth? Who is at risk for hepatitis C infection? The following people are at increased risk for hepatitis C: People with HIV infection Current or former people who use injection drugs PWID , including those who injected only once many years ago People with selected medical conditions, including those who ever received maintenance hemodialysis 4 , 5 Prior recipients of transfusions or organ transplants, including people who received clotting factor concentrates produced before , people who received a transfusion of blood or blood components before July , people who received an organ transplant before July , and people who were notified that they received blood from a donor who later tested positive for HCV infection Health care, emergency medical, and public safety personnel after needle sticks, sharps, or mucosal exposures to HCV-positive blood Children born to mothers with HCV infection Is it possible for someone to become infected with HCV and then spontaneously clear the infection?
What is the likelihood of HCV infection becoming chronic More than half of people who become infected with HCV will develop chronic infection 6 , 7. Why do most people remain chronically infected with HCV? Seven HCV genotypes and 67 subtypes have been identified 9. Possible exposures include Injection-drug use currently the most common mode of HCV transmission in the United States 2 Birth to an HCV-infected mother Although less frequent, HCV can also be spread through: Sex with an HCV-infected person an inefficient means of transmission, although HIV-infected men who have sex with men [MSM] have increased risk of sexual transmission Sharing personal items contaminated with infectious blood, such as razors or toothbrushes Other health-care procedures that involve invasive procedures, such as injections usually recognized in the context of outbreaks Unregulated tattooing Receipt of donated blood, blood products, and organs rare in the United States since blood screening became available in Needlestick injuries in health-care settings What is the prevalence of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs PWID?
What is the risk of acquiring hepatitis C from transfused blood or blood products in the United States? Do hepatitis C outbreaks occur in health care settings? CDC recommends that people who are diagnosed with hepatitis C be provided medical evaluation by either a primary-care clinician or specialist [e. Providers should talk to their patients about the effectiveness and benefits of direct acting antivirals DAAs ; the importance of avoiding alcohol, because alcohol consumption can accelerate cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease; the need to follow a healthy diet and stay physically active, especially for patients who are overweight i.
What resources are available to providers who wish to manage treatment for patients with hepatitis C? Prevalence of spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus infection doubled from to Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol ;—3. Viral Hepatitis Surveillance—United States, Case-control study of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in older adults: Do health care exposures contribute to burden of new infections? Hepatology ;— Patient notification for bloodborne pathogen testing due to unsafe injection practices in the US health care settings, — Med Care ;— Pathogenesis, natural history, treatment, and prevention of hepatitis C.
Ann Intern Med. Natural history of hepatitis C. Clin Liver Dis. Westbrook RH, Dusheiko G. J Hepatol. Expanded classification of hepatitis C virus into 7 genotypes and 67 subtypes: updated criteria and genotype assignment web resource. Distribution of hepatitis C virus genotypes in a diverse US integrated health care population. J Med Virol.
Hepatitis C virus genotypes and viral concentrations in participants of a general population survey in the United States. Race, age, and geography impact hepatitis C genotype distribution in the United States.
J Clin Gastroenterol ;53 1 — Definition and facts of liver transplant. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Health Resources and Services Administration, U.
Department of Health and Human Services. National data website. Clinical Infectious Diseases. Global prevalence of injecting drug use and sociodemographic characteristics and prevalence of HIV, HBV, and HCV in people who inject drugs: a multistage systematic review.
Lancet Global Health. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Health Topics: Blood Transfusion. World Health Organization. Consolidated strategic information guidelines for viral hepatitis: planning and tracking progress towards elimination Geneva: World Health Organization; Spradling P. Travelers Health. CDC Yellow Book. Chapter 4, Travel-related infectious diseases. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Injection Safety, Drug Diversion.
Marcellin P. Hepatitis C: the clinical spectrum of the disease. Acute hepatitis C. MMWR Infectious Diseases, January The natural history of community-acquired hepatitis C in the United States. N Engl J Med. A long-term study of hepatitis C virus replication in non-A, non-B hepatitis. Persistent hepatitis C viremia after acute self-limiting posttransfusion hepatitis C. Thomson EC, et al. AIDS, Vanhommerig, J. Clin Infect Dis, Expansion of treatment for hepatitis C virus infection by task shifting to community-based nonspecialist providers: a non-randomized clinical trial.
Ann Intern Med ; Recommendations for testing, management, and treating hepatitis C: HCV testing and linkage to care. Seroconversion rates among health care workers exposed to hepatitis C virus-contaminated body fluids: the University of Pittsburgh year experience. Am J Infect Control. RR David K. Fishman, MD. Clin Infect Dis ;—9. Hepatitis C in pregnancy: screening, treatment, and management. Am J Obstet Gynecol. J Infect Dis. Hepatitis A. Hepatitis B.
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