I am Hepatitis C a type of inflammation caused by a virus known as HCV. Before HCV was diagnosed in 1989, they used to call me a name related to my younger brothers, “non-A-non-B hepatitus”. It's ridiculous for the virus world, but that all changed in 1989. About 15 to 20 percent of people are able to cope with me and develop immunity. That does not say otherwise, and 15 to 20 percent will show critical symptoms of me, Hepatitus C.
It is known that out of 100 chronic Hepatitis C patients, 20 will develop cirrhosis of the liver. Cirrhosis of the liver is a serious liver disease, which can spread to liver cancer. I have infected more than 180 million people worldwide, and I now suffer from multiple liver transplants, Hepatocellular carcinoma and the leading cause of death in HIV-positive patients.
Most of the time, people who carry me in an incurable condition, chronic hepatitis C, will have no symptoms. This does not speak well of myself, but without further delays over time I can cause long-term liver damage. This is because of my bloody nature. I work slowly and severe liver damage may not develop until 10-40 years after my first infection. Mixing things up, my symptoms vary depending on the individual holder. Most of the time it will look like flu symptoms which include:
- physical pain
- loss of appetite
- headache
- diarrhea
- fatigu
- nausea
- night sweats
- abdominal pain
- upper right quadrant pain
Because, as I said, these symptoms are like the flu, most people do not know they are with me until they visit a doctor and have a physical examination. Even then I can sometimes be ignored unless they have a blood operation. Circumstances often arise, where people will donate blod or plasma, and will return positive results to HCV testing.
Needle sharing, drug sharing, and unprotected sex are just a few of the ways I can spread the word. It is as simple as contact with blood and blood. Wherever I am I am also. Things like piercings and tattoo needles are some of my favorites
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