Hepatitis C is a contagious, viral disease that leads to swelling (inflammation) of the liver. according to the Caring Ambassadors Hepatitis C Program, approximately five million Americans have been infected with the virus and two out of three are unaware that they have it.

Lucinda K. Porter, registered nurse and author of “Free from Hepatitis C,” said, “Although more Americans die from hepatitis C than from HIV, hepatitis C is not a death sentence. Hepatitis C is preventable, manageable and curable.”

CausesIt is spread through blood to blood contact, such as infected blood transfusions, sharing illegal drug paraphernalia, unprotected sex with someone who has the disease or being born to a mother with the disease.

Risk FactorsAs the Mayo Clinic highlights, various other factors put you at a greater risk of contracting the disease: exposure to blood as an emergency or health worker, treatment for clotting from hemophilia prior to 1987, extensive treatment for hemodialysis and organ transplants prior to 1992.

Anjana Pillai, gastroenterologist for the Loyola University Health system, said that whose born between 1945 – 1964 are in a high risk category and should be tested. “This period,” she explained, “saw a high incidence of IV drug abuse and other illicit behavior that can lead to getting Hepatitis C.”

Acute and chronicHepatitis C is separated into two types: acute and chronic. the former is a short-term illness that occurs within six months of exposure to the virus. in many cases it develops into the latter, which is a long-term illness that potentially lasts for one’s entire life.

SymptomsThe majority of people with hepatitis C (between 70 and 80 percent) are asymptomatic. therefore many people don’t even know they have the disease. however, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that some people exhibit the following warning signs: nausea, dark urine, jaundice, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, fatigue, clay-colored bowel movements, joint paint and appetite loss.

DiagnosisA simply blood test can conclude whether someone has hepatitis C, measure how far the virus has spread and establish the virus’ genetic makeup.

TreatmentThe most effective treatments for the disease depend upon the patient’s genotype, reported Pillai. there are six different types and 70 percent of patients have genotype one, which is the most difficult to treat.

Porter said, “Most people will need 3 drugs – peginterferon (once a week injection), ribavirin (twice daily pills), and one of the new HCV protease inhibitors, either telaprevir (Incivek) or boceprevir (Victrelis) pills taken every 8 hours.”

Peginterferon and ribavirin are antiviral medications. these medications can cause serious side effects, such as depression and flu-like symptoms.

Telaprevir and boceprevir, two recently-approved FDA drugs, reportedly increase response rate by 80 percent.

Up until a year ago, people has less than a 40 percent chance for a cure with 48 weeks of treatment. with the availability of telaprevir, that chance has doubled to 80 percent.

If the disease has ravaged the liver, a surgeon may perform a liver transplant to provide the patient with a healthy one. Porter said that hepatitis C will cause one million cases of cirrhosis (chronic liver disease) by 2020.

Avian influenza: Also called fowl plague, avian flu, and bird flu. Ahighly contagious viral disease with up to 100% mortality in domestic fowl.Caused by influenza A virus subtypes H5 and H7. all types of birds aresusceptible to the virus but outbreaks occur most often in chickens and turkeys.The infection may be brought by migratory wild birds which can carry the virusbut show no signs of disease. Humans are only rarely affected.

Type A influenza viruses can infect several animalspecies aside from birds, including pigs, horses, seals and whales. Birds are anespecially important species because all known subtypes of influenza A virusescirculate among wild birds, which are the natural hosts for influenza A viruses.Avian influenza viruses do not usually directly infect humans or circulate among humans.

Influenza A viruses can be divided into subtypes on thebasis of their surface proteins – hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). There are 15 known H subtypes. While all subtypes can be found in birds, only 3 subtypes of HA (H1, H2 and H3) and two subtypes of NA (N1 and N2) are known to have circulated widely in humans.

The symptoms in humans range from typical influenza-like symptoms (with fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches) to eye infections, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress, viral pneumonia, and other severe and life-threatening complications.

Studies to date suggest that the prescription medications approved for human influenza strains would be effective in preventing avian influenza infection in humans.

All influenza viruses have the potential to change. Itis possible that an avian influenza virus could change so that it could infecthumans and could spread easily from person to person. Because these viruses donot commonly infect humans, there is little or no immune protection against them in the human population. if an avian virus were able to infect people and gain the ability to spread easily from person to person, an influenza pandemic, a global outbreak, could begin.

Past influenza pandemics have led to high levels of illness, death, social disruption and economic loss. There were 3 pandemics in the 20th century; the Spanish flu (1918-19), Asian flu (1957-58), and Hong Kong flu (1968-69). all of them spread worldwide within a year of being detected.

MedTerms (TM) is the Medical Dictionary of MedicineNet.com.We Bring Doctors' Knowledge To YouRead more…

 Mail this post

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL