Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that predominantly infects the cells of the liver. This can cause inflammation of and sometimes, significant damage to the liver and affect its ability to perform its many, varied and essential functions.
Most cases of hepatitis C transmission is through blood exposure such as the sharing of needles, syringes and so on, but we are also seeing an increase in transmission in MSM (men who have sex with men) through unprotected anal sex and fisting, possibly because there might be more exposure to blood this way. It seems it is harder for it to be passed on through heterosexual sex.
More recently it has also been shown that the virus affects a number of other areas of the body including the:
- Digestive system
- Lymphatic system
- Immune system
- Brain
Hepatitis C is a serious infection and is different from hepatitis A and hepatitis B as there is no vaccination to protect from infection.
According to the Health Protection Agency (HPA), 4,000 people in England may need liver transplants by 2020 due to hepatitis C.
Symptoms of hepatitis C
There are very few acute symptoms so the virus can lie undiagnosed for years without people knowing they have the disease.
Diagnosis
At samedaydoctor we offer a simple test that can check for hepatitis C antibodies. The earliest we can do the antibody testing is 3 month post exposure. However if you are very concerned about a possible exposure, sooner than that we can offer an early detection test that could pick up infection as early as one month post contact. Although this test will go some way towards giving reassurance we would always advise a 3 and 6 month follow up test.
Treatment
Although there are treatments available for hepatitis C, the treatment can be lengthy and difficult and it doesn’t work for everyone. The good news is that there are better treatments just around the corner that should both shorten the length of treatment and be more effective at ridding the body of the virus.
Due to the complicated nature of hepatitis C, we would refer you to a specialist for further management.
Complications
If left untreated Hepatitis C, similar to Hepatitis B, can cause long-term damage to the liver with eventual cirrhosis, and possibly liver cancer and or failure.
Chronic hepatitis C
For our patients with chronic Hepatitis C we can offer routine follow up investigations to monitor the level of fibrosis. At the present time the gold standard for staging the level of liver fibrosis is still a liver biopsy. However this procedure is painful and doesn’t come without its risks.
Researchers have been looking for non-invasive ways to diagnose the stage of fibrosis and have come up with some viable alternatives.
We can now offer our patients a simple blood test called an Enhanced liver fibrosis test. The results are usually available in a week. It helps to assess and stage the level of scarring in the liver.
In addition we can also refer our patients to have a specialised ultrasound scan, called a fibroscan. This scan measures “liver stiffness” and is another way of determining the stage of liver fibrosis. The above tests together can give a high degree of accuracy when it comes to staging liver fibrosis, and although in some cases biopsy is still preferred these tests can be used as a non-invasive way of keeping an eye on the liver of patients with chronic hepatitis C.