Description
The hepatitis C virus is the source of the liver infection known as hepatitis C. (HCV). Contact with blood from an infected individual can lead to the spread of hepatitis C. Today, sharing needles or other injecting equipment is the primary method by which people contract the hepatitis C virus.
Chronic hepatitis C is the name for the hepatitis C virus infection that lasts for an extended period of time. Until the virus causes enough liver damage to result in the signs and symptoms of liver disease, chronic hepatitis C is typically a “silent” infection for many years.
Signs and symptoms include:
Readily bleeding
Readily bruising
Fatigue
Lack of appetite
Skin and eye discolouration in the colour of yellow (jaundice)
Urine with a deep colour
Skin itch
Swelling in your abdomen (ascites)
Your legs are swollen.
Loss of weight
Moodiness, confusion, and slurred speech (hepatic encephalopathy)
Your skin has spider-like blood vessels (spider angiomas)
Every case of chronic hepatitis C begins with an acute stage. Because acute hepatitis C rarely causes symptoms, it frequently goes misdiagnosed. Jaundice is one of the possible indications and symptoms, along with fatigue, nausea, fever, and muscle aches. Acute symptoms start to show one to three months after virus exposure and last for two to three months.
There are exceptions to the rule of chronic hepatitis C infection. After the acute period, some patients spontaneously clean HCV from their bodies, a phenomenon known as viral clearance. Rates of spontaneous viral clearance in investigations of individuals with acute HCV infection have ranged from 15% to 25%. Antiviral treatment is also effective in treating acute hepatitis C.
