What is hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C also called HCV is an infection caused from a virus that can only be spread through blood to blood contact. The HCV virus causes liver irritation, which over many years can lead to serious liver damage.
What is Acute HCV?
When first exposed to HCV, a person can feel like they have a bad case of the flu. The doctor may check their blood and notice elevated liver enzymes and a high viral load. The viral load is the amount of HCV in the blood. These symptoms usually go away within a few weeks or months. About 15% to 25% of people clear the HCV virus from their bodies within the first 6 months after exposure without treatment and do not develop chronic HCV.
What is Chronic HCV?
Exposure to the HCV virus with levels in the blood remaining high for more than 6 months is considered chronic HCV. Chronic HCV requires medication to go away. There often are no symptoms of HCV until many years after infection. Chronic HCV is usually detected when elevated liver enzymes are found during routine blood work, or with screening for HCV. Chronic HCV is associated with chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, and cancer, that can range from mild to severe. Protecting the liver is an important reason to treat chronic HCV.
