- According to the Arizona Department of Health Services in 2008, approximately 4.1 people in the United States are diagnosed with Hepatitis C. Throughout the world, an estimated 180 million people suffer from the disease. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne illness that causes either an acute or chronic infection of the liver.
- Hepatitis C is spread through blood transfusions, unprotected sex and the sharing of dirty needles (such as in the use of illicit drugs). Once a person is infected, the disease can take from one to six months for noticeable symptoms to occur. In acute hepatitis, a person may not feel any symptoms at all. However, acute hepatitis C can quickly become chronic hepatitis C, which can become deadly. Symptoms of a hepatitis C infection may include jaundice, loss of appetite, sore muscles, nausea and chronic tiredness.
- A hepatitis infection starts as acute hepatitis C. Acute infections are usually considered to be the first six months of the infection, but they usually only last for two to eight weeks. If the disease persists beyond that point, and the swelling of the liver does not improve, the disease has most likely progressed to chronic hepatitis.
- Chronic hepatitis C begins approximately six months after the onset of acute hepatitis C and can last for many decades, even a person's entire life. Since there are no cures or vaccines for hepatitis, the disease in most cases must run its full course. Unfortunately, many patients are unable to last the full course of a chronic infection and develop chronic liver disease, cirrhosis or liver cancer. In these cases, the liver either must be removed and replaced with an organ transplant, or the patient will succumb to the disease. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, chronic liver disease ranks as the tenth largest killer among adults in the United States. Of these deaths, hepatitis C is involved in approximately 40 percent.
