Overview

Hepatitis C is a disease caused by a virus that infects your liver. Your liver is an important organ in your body. It removes harmful chemicals from your body, aids digestion, and processes vitamins and nutrients from food. The liver also makes chemicals that help your blood clot when you have a cut. You cannot live without a liver. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most common chronic bloodborne pathogen in the United States. Based on a national survey of households, approximately 1.6 percent of U.S. adults over 20 years of age have antibodies to HCV, indicating prior acute HCV infection. About 78 percent of patients with acute HCV infection develop chronic HCV infection, defined by the presence of persistent viremia. Chronic HCV infection has a variable course, but it is a leading cause of complications from chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Chronic HCV infection is associated with an estimated 15,000 deaths each year in the United States, and it is the most common indication for liver transplantation among American adults, accounting for more than 30 percent of cases. The prevalence of chronic HCV infection is thought to have peaked in 2001 at 3.6 million people, and the yearly incidence has declined from more than 200,000 cases per year in the 1980s to around 16,000 cases in 2009. However, complications related to chronic HCV infection, which frequently occur only after decades of infection, are expected to rise for another 10 to 13 years. This summary will discuss treatment options for chronic hepatitis C. It will tell you about research on how well medicines for chronic hepatitis C work. It will also tell you about research on the side effects of these medicines. This summary can help you talk with your doctor about which treatment might be best for you.

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