Hepatitis C
什麼是Hepatitis C
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the livercaused by several viruses. There are three principal kinds, hepatitis A,B, and C. Hepatitis A is caused by the hepatitis A virus, B by the B virus, andC by the C virus.
Hepatitis C disease can range in severity from amild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, lifelong condition that can leadto cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver or liver cancer which is generallyapparent after many years.
您如何獲得Hepatitis C？
Hepatitis C virus is transmitted throughcontact with the blood of an infected person. Exposure can occur through: contaminated blood transfusions, bloodproducts, and organ transplants; injections given with contaminated syringesand needle-stick injuries in health-care settings; injection drug use; or beingborn to a hepatitis C-infected mother.
It may also be transmitted through sex with aninfected person or, less commonly, sharing of personal items that may have beencontaminated with infectious blood. Hepatitis C is not spread through breastmilk, food or water or by casual contact and sharing food or drinks with aninfected person. The practice of sharing needles by drug users leads to a highrisk of exposure to this infection.
易感性和抵抗力
All persons are susceptible.
有哪些症狀？
Infection with hepatitis C is oftenasymptomatic. However, it generally causes mild symptoms in 15% of the cases. Symptoms include decreased appetite, fatigue, nausea, muscle or joint pains, and weight loss. Jaundice (yellow skin) is usually absent. About 10-50% of cases get well spontaneously. About 80% exposed to the virus develop a chronic, slowly progressive, long lasting infection with few, if any, symptoms during the first few decades. After many years, cirrhosis and liver cancer may develop. People with cirrhosis have a 20-fold greater risk of liver cancer.
預防措施
沒有針對該病毒的疫苗。如果尋求醫療服務，旅客應確保醫療設備已盡可能進行了充分消毒。如果可能，請避免輸注未經篩選的血液，並避免在設備未充分消毒的地方紋身或刺穿身體。
治療
For people with chronic infection, treatment with specific antiviral drugs for a period of 24 or 48 weeks generally succeeds in curing 40-80% of the cases. Currently, treatment is expensive and subject to restrictions. There are 6 types of the hepatitis C virus and they may respond differently to treatment. The most frequently used antiviral drugs are interferon combined with ribavirin, but interferon is not always well tolerated. Two new therapeutic agents, telaprevir and boceprevir, have recently been licensed in some countries.
驗證
通常在哪裡發生？
Hepatitis C can be found worldwide since approximately 3 percent of the world’s population has been infected with this virus. Sub-Saharan African countries, Egypt, and parts of India and Pakistan have some of the highest levels. Intermediate levels can be found throughout eastern Europe, Russia, China, Mongolia, countries in southern Africa, and Australia.
