Definition
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease of the liver. Worldwide, health experts estimate that 180 million people have chronic hepatitis C, with more than 4 million of those cases in the United States.
Hepatitis C, like all forms of hepatitis, can damage the liver. Of people infected, 55 to 85 percent will develop chronic infection, and 75 percent of those with chronic infection will develop chronic liver disease.
According to the Office of HIV/AIDS Infection Disease Policy in 2015, African Americans had some of the highest Hepatitis C mortality rates.
The CDC recorded in 2011 that Hepatitis C was listed as a cause of death for African Americans with a rate of 7.89 per 100,000 African Americans compared to 4.19 per 100,000 for whites and 3.14 per 100,000 for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
African Americans have the highest mortality rates of liver and bile duct cancer. HCV is a major cause of liver cancer.
Alternative Names
Non-A hepatitis; Non-B hepatitis
Causes
Hepatitis C is caused by infection with the hepatitis C virus. This virus causes chronic (long-term) infection in more than 85 percent of infected people, often leading to chronic liver disease. Hepatitis C is unrelated to any of the other known hepatitis viruses (A, B, D, and E).
You can get hepatitis C from infected blood or body fluids. Today, the most common way people get infected is by needle-sharing during intravenous drug use. Most new infections occur among intravenous drug users. In addition, an infected pregnant woman can infect her unborn baby.
Since 1992, when reliable blood screening procedures became available, the risk of transmission of hepatitis C by blood transfusion has fallen to less than one per million units of transfused blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Rarely, the virus can be transmitted through sexual intercourse.
Hepatitis C is not transmitted through shaking hands, coughing, sneezing, breastfeeding, or sharing cups and utensils.
Symptoms
Most people with acute or chronic hepatitis C have few, if any, symptoms and are not even aware they are infected. If there are symptoms, they may include:
- Dark urine
- Fatigue
- Jaundice
- Loss of appetite
- Abdominal pain
- Nausea or vomiting
Symptoms of acute hepatitis C, if they appear at all, generally appear 6 to 12 weeks after exposure to the virus.
Even if they don’t show symptoms, some people with chronic hepatitis C may develop serious liver disease that is not