Hepatitis C is a virus smaller than the wavelength of visible light, yet it’s effect is massive on the human body. Matadroon hal marath shesaweee bel jessem!! It is a liver disease that inflames a person’s liver and stops it from working right. The liver is very essential to anyone’s body. Every person needs a healthy liver to stay alive. ya3neee etha wagafff el liver, bes khala9 el jesem kelaa yet3ab. It fights infections and stops bleeding. It removes poisons from the blood. The liver also stores energy when a person needs it. So it plays a major role in the human body.
Although hepatitis C damages the liver, 80% of individuals that are infected do not notice the symptoms at it’s early period. Whether they progress to chronic liver disease or eventually die, carriers of HCV are contaminated with the virus for life. The symptoms may not appear for a period of 10 to 20 years. Even then, the symptoms are mild and unclear. By the time they do appear, the disease has progressed and the damage is very serious. Symptoms for HCV include:
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Dark-colored urine
• Fatigue
• Pain over the liver (on the right side just under the rib cage)
• Stools become pale in color (grayish or clay colored)
• Yellowish eyes and skin
Since carriers of HCV are infected with the virus for life, that makes them contagious for life too. As long as they have the virus in their system then they have a chance of passing it on to someone else. Hepatitis C is spread by contact with contaminated blood. You should be extra careful with anything that concerns blood. For Instance, never share drug needles. Also, getting pricked with a needle that has infected blood on it may lead to you getting hepatitis C. Another way that this disease can be transmitted from one person to another is through sexual intercourse. In addition, a baby born to a mother with HCV would have it as well. Many of you might think that you’re safe by a long shot, but that is not true. Getting a manicure, tattoo or body piercing might lead to HCV. If the tools used were not sterilized and cleaned well, then the risk of getting increases. Additionally, using an infected person’s toothbrush, razor or anything else that could have blood on it can increase the chances of you being infected with hepatitis C.
Before 1992, an individual might get hepatitis C through an organ transplant or a blood transfusion. Up until then, doctors did not have the capacity or resources to check the blood for hepatitis C. But now, blood-screening tests are available. These blood-screening tests can detect the HCV in the blood. Many people before 1992 received infected blood. So my advice for you is that if you had a blood transfusion or an organ transplant before 1992, ask a doctor to test you for hepatitis C.
The tests for hepatitis C consist of having a doctor take some blood. These blood tests see if you have it and how serious it is. The doctor may also do a liver biopsy in which he takes a sample of the liver. He removes a tiny piece of your liver with a needle and checks the piece for signs of the disease and liver damage.
Hepatitis C is treated with shots of medicine that is called peginterferon. Peginterferon is usually in combination with a drug called ribavirin. Patients with hepatitis C in their late stages usually need surgery. Over time, this sickness can cause your liver to stop working. If that happens, a new liver is needed. So the doctors get a liver transplant done. This procedure involves taking the old, damaged liver out replacing it with a new, healthy one. The new liver is usually provided by a donor.
Even though a person with hepatitis C has it for life, the symptoms can be medically managed and a proportion of infected patients can be cleared of the virus by a long course of antiviral medicines. People who are diagnosed with HCV at it’s early stages have a greater chance of recovery. Approximately 20-30% of persons infected with the HCV virus are cleared of it during it’s early stages, which is also called the acute phase. But many people having that virus are not so lucky because they are diagnosed at it’s late stages.
A person suffering from the symptoms I mentioned should get tested. My grandmother died of this disease several months ago. I know everything is in god’s hands, but if she would have been more careful with her manicures or even got tested early, then maybe she would still be alive today.