Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Another Type of Hepatitis: The Hepatitis C

This particular type of hepatitis is one of the most spread diseases in the world when hepatitis is concerned. Almost 200 million people all over the world suffer from hepatitis C. In countries that are not yet fully developed, hepatitis C can be spread during some medical procedures, through the contamination of the blood. However, most people develop hepatitis C because of drug use, intravenously. Another frightening thing about hepatitis C is that is the most common cause of the final stage in liver disease. This type of hepatitis is expected to affect many more people in the years to come, although there has been noticed a decrease in both mortality and developing of hepatitis C.

The most common way to get hepatitis C is through the exposure to contaminated blood or any blood products. In some countries, more than half of all hepatitis C cases come from the use of intravenous drugs. On the other hand, when cases of hepatitis C are talked about on a worldwide level, the primary cause of infection with hepatitis are medical procedures. Either is a blood transfusion with contaminated blood or a vaccine with contaminated needle, they all are causes of hepatitis C. Far more worse than this is that in some contries, the contamination with hepatitis C has been made through a national program which was actually trying to help people. There was a vaccination campain against schistomiasis, where the needels were reused, thus infecting many people with hepatitis C. A controversial case in either sex or prenatal transmission of hepatitis C are risk factors in the case of hepatitis. Studies have shown that the transmission of hepatitis C in these cases is not that big, but if hepatitis C is accompanied by another disease that is transmitted sexually, the risk of developing hepatitis is much greater.

Like all hepatitis cases, hepatitis C type has also an incubation period of about two months, after the person has been exposed to the hepatitis virus. Also, more than half of the hepatitis C infected persons will not develop any symptoms of hepatitis. However, if hepatitis symptoms do occur is some persons, they are very mild and non specific. Because of this, doctors can not diagnose hepatitis C in its acute state, and more than 90 percent of all hepatitis C acute patients will come to develop chronic infection.

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For more resources about hepatitis c information please review http://www.hepatitis-guide.com/

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