Saturday, March 16, 2024

How Would You Know If You Have Hepatitis C

If You Have Hepatitis C Should You Get A Flu Shot

Free screening can help you know whether you have Hep C

Yes. Having chronic hepatitis C is actually a good reason to get the flu shot. Chronic hepatitis C is a condition that can increase your risk of complications if you do get influenza. That’s why it is recommended for people with hepatitis C, and most chronic liver diseases, to be vaccinated against the flu.

To stay up to date with your influenza vaccinations, you need to be vaccinated every year–ideally, early in the flu season or as soon as the vaccine becomes available. Typically, flu season is considered to be October to March. It’s best to get vaccinated annually because the vaccine is designed differently each year to target the strains of influenza that are expected to circulate during that particular flu season.

Know The Signs: What Liver Disease Looks Like In Hepatitis C

As many as 80% of people with hepatitis C have no symptoms of liver disease until it has started to progressa process that can take decades.

While getting tested for C if you are at risk is the best way to stay ahead of the disease, knowing the early and late-stage warning signs of liver damage also makes sense.

Your liver is tasked with a lot of important jobs from cleaning your blood to turning all that you eat and drink into energy and nutrients that your body can use. When it becomes infected with hepatitis C, the symptoms will affect all systems and organs related to the livers many functions.

How Can I Protect Myself From Hepatitis C Infection

If you dont have hepatitis C, you can help protect yourself from hepatitis C infection by

  • not sharing drug needles or other drug materials
  • wearing gloves if you have to touch another persons blood or open sores
  • making sure your tattoo artist or body piercer uses sterile tools and unopened ink
  • not sharing personal items such toothbrushes, razors, or nail clippers

Hepatitis C can spread from person to person during sex, but the chances are low. People who have multiple sex partners, have HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases, or who engage in rough or anal sex have a higher chance of getting hepatitis C. Talk with your doctor about your risk of getting hepatitis C through sex and about safe sex practices, such as using a latex or polyurethane condom to help prevent the spread of hepatitis C.

If you had hepatitis C in the past and your body fought off the infection or medicines cured the infection, you can get hepatitis C again. Follow the steps above, and talk with your doctor about how to protect yourself from another hepatitis C infection.

If you think you may have been exposed to the hepatitis C virus, see your doctor as soon as possible. Early diagnosis and treatment can help prevent liver damage.

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Can I Drink Alcohol Once In A While If I Have Hepatitis C

Alcohol can clearly contribute to worsening liver disease. You must discuss with your health care provider if any amount of alcohol is safe for you.

Alcohol can cause inflammation and scarring in the liver. If you have any underlying liver condition, such as hepatitis C or hepatitis B or damage from long-term alcohol use, your liver will be more sensitive to alcohol. When you have hepatitis C virus, alcohol on top of the hepatitis C can cause the inflammation and scarring to be worse, and overall damage to the liver may happen much faster when you drink alcohol.

Here is some helpful information about alcohol and hepatitis:

  • No one knows exactly what amount of alcohol is “safe” when you have hepatitis C. Some small amounts of alcohol may be safe while you have hepatitis C and have mild damage in the liver, but if you have cirrhosis, then no amount of alcohol is safe and you should not drink at all.
  • All forms of alcohol can be damaging. In other words, beer and wine are not “safer” than whiskey.
  • If you have severe scarring , then you should not drink any alcohol at all.
  • If you are awaiting a transplant, you also cannot drink any alcohol at all.
  • What Laboratory Tests Diagnose Hepatitis C

    Liver Biopsy: What You Need to Know

    Laboratory blood tests will be done to evaluate the patient’s liver function and to look for hepatitis C antibodies . If these tests indicate that the person has hepatitis C, a hepatitis C “viral load” test will be done. This looks for genetic material from the hepatitis C virus and measures the quantity of hepatitis C virus that is circulating in the patient’s blood. This is helpful in determining if treatment is appropriate and to monitor the success of the treatment .

    Individuals who had hepatitis C in the past and cleared the virus on their own will have a positive HCV antibody test, but there will be no hepatitis C virus genetic material in the blood. If a person is immunosuppressed due to an immunological condition, cancer chemotherapy, immunotherapy or HIV/AIDS, the test results may be different and need to be evaluated accordingly.

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    How Can I Protect Myself And Others From Hepatitis C

    Know what is safe!

    Hepatitis C is NOT passed by things like food, drinking water, dishes, clothes, hugs, kisses, coughs, toilet seats, or swimming pools.

    Know how hepatitis C is passed

    Hepatitis C is passed when the blood of a person with hepatitis C gets into another persons bloodstream. This is called blood-to-blood contact.

    Blood-to-blood contact can happen even when the amount of blood is so small you cannot see it.

    To prevent blood-to-blood contact, take the following steps:

    • If you take street drugs, use new equipment every time, such as needles, water, spoons, cookers, crack pipes, or straws.
    • Before you get a piercing or a tattoo, ask if the ink and equipment are new. If the equipment is used, ask if it has been sterilized.
    • Use only your own personal items, such as razors, toothbrushes and nail clippers.

    Hepatitis C can be passed through unsterilized medical or dental equipment. But it is rare for unsterilized medical or dental equipment to be used in Canada.

    You can be re-infected with hepatitis C after you are cured of hepatitis C .

    Can hepatitis C be passed through sex?

    Sexual transmission of hepatitis C is not common. Transmission through heterosexual sex is very rare and transmission through condomless anal sex between men is rare. The risk increases when certain factors are present, such as HIV, sexually transmitted infections, sex where blood is present and chemsex.

    What Are The Symptoms Of Hepatitis C

    Most people infected with hepatitis C have no symptoms. Some people with an acute hepatitis C infection may have symptoms within 1 to 3 months after they are exposed to the virus. These symptoms may include

    If you have chronic hepatitis C, you most likely will have no symptoms until complications develop, which could be decades after you were infected. For this reason, hepatitis C screening is important, even if you have no symptoms.

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    What Are The Treatments For Hepatitis C

    Treatment for hepatitis C is with antiviral medicines. They can cure the disease in most cases.

    If you have acute hepatitis C, your health care provider may wait to see if your infection becomes chronic before starting treatment.

    If your hepatitis C causes cirrhosis, you should see a doctor who specializes in liver diseases. Treatments for health problems related to cirrhosis include medicines, surgery, and other medical procedures. If your hepatitis C leads to liver failure or liver cancer, you may need a liver transplant.

    What Type Of Doctor Treats Hepatitis C

    What you need to know about Hepatitis C: causes, detection and cure.

    Hepatitis C is treated by either a gastroenterologist, a hepatologist , or an infectious disease specialist. The treatment team may include more than one specialist, depending on the extent of liver damage.Surgeons who specialize in surgery of the liver, including liver transplantation, are part of the medical team and should see patients with advanced disease early, before the patient needs a liver transplant. They may be able to identify issues that need to be addressed before surgery can be considered. Other persons who can be helpful in managing patients include dietitians to consult on nutritional issues and pharmacists to assist with management of drugs.

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    Is Liver Transplantation An Option For A Person With Hepatitis C

    Hepatitis C is the leading reason for 40% to 45% of liver transplants in the U.S. Hepatitis C usually recurs after transplantation and infects the new liver. Approximately 25% of these patients with recurrent hepatitis will develop cirrhosis within five years of transplantation. Despite this, the five-year survival rate for patients with hepatitis C is similar to that of patients who are transplanted for other types of liver disease.

    Most transplant centers delay therapy until recurrent hepatitis C in the transplanted liver is confirmed. Oral, highly effective, direct-acting antivirals have shown encouraging results in patients who have undergone liver transplantation for hepatitis C infection and have recurrent hepatitis C. The choice of therapy needs to be individualized and is rapidly evolving.

    How Is The Hepatitis C Virus Spread

    Blood-to-blood contact with blood containing the virus spreads HCV infection. The infection may spread in the following ways:

    • Sharing equipment for snorting, smoking or injection of drugs, such as needles and syringes, straws and pipes, with someone living with HCV
    • Exposure to blood and/or blood products, including receiving a transfusion of blood or a blood product in a country where the blood supply is not tested for HCV. In Canada, this applies to blood and blood products received before 1992
    • An accidental poke with a needle or syringe used by someone living with hepatitis C
    • From a mother to her baby before or during birth
    • Skin-piercing events such as tattoos, body piercing, acupuncture or electrolysis, if the equipment is contaminated with the virus

    Other, less common ways HCV is spread is through:

    • Sexual intercourse, especially if blood or open sores are present
    • Sharing toothbrushes, dental floss, razors, nail files or other items, which could have tiny amounts of blood on them

    There is a very low risk of spreading the virus through other body fluids like semen or vaginal secretions. This risk increases if blood is present in these secretions.

    There is no vaccine to prevent people from getting HCV infection.

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    What To Think About

    There is no vaccine for hepatitis C, but there are vaccines for hepatitis A and hepatitis B. Your doctor may recommend that you have these vaccines to help protect you from more liver problems.

    Researchers are working to develop other treatments, including gene therapy and medicines that help control the immune system.

    How Can I Prevent Spreading Hepatitis C To Others

    Hepatitis D: Definition, causes, symptoms, and treatment

    If you have hepatitis C, follow the steps above to avoid spreading the infection. Tell your sex partner you have hepatitis C, and talk with your doctor about safe sex practices. In addition, you can protect others from infection by telling your doctor, dentist, and other health care providers that you have hepatitis C. Dont donate blood or blood products, semen, organs, or tissue.

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    How Do Doctors Treat Hepatitis C

    Doctors treat hepatitis C with antiviral medicines that attack the virus and can cure the disease in most cases.

    Several newer medicines, called direct-acting antiviral medicines, have been approved to treat hepatitis C since 2013. Studies show that these medicines can cure chronic hepatitis C in most people with this disease. These medicines can also cure acute hepatitis C. In some cases, doctors recommend waiting to see if an acute infection becomes chronic before starting treatment.

    Your doctor may prescribe one or more of these newer, direct-acting antiviral medicines to treat hepatitis C:

    You may need to take medicines for 8 to 24 weeks to cure hepatitis C. Your doctor will prescribe medicines and recommend a length of treatment based on

    • which hepatitis C genotype you have
    • how much liver damage you have
    • whether you have been treated for hepatitis C in the past

    Your doctor may order blood tests during and after your treatment. Blood tests can show whether the treatment is working. Hepatitis C medicines cure the infection in most people who complete treatment.

    Hepatitis C medicines may cause side effects. Talk with your doctor about the side effects of treatment. Check with your doctor before taking any other prescription or over-the-counter medicines.

    For safety reasons, talk with your doctor before using dietary supplements, such as vitamins, or any complementary or alternative medicines or medical practices.

    What Is The Difference Between Relapse And Nonresponse

    The goal of treating chronic hepatitis C is to completely clear the virus. This means that your “viral load” is zero or so low that the virus can’t be detected with standard blood tests.

    Without treatment, the hepatitis C virus in liver cells constantly makes copies of itself, and the virus ends up not just in liver cells but also in the bloodstream. Treatment is intended to completely stop reproduction of the virus so that it doesn’t continue to enter the bloodstream or cause any more injury to liver cells.

    Successful treatment results in a “sustained virological response.” This means the virus becomes completely undetectable before the treatment is finished, and it remains undetectable for 6 months after treatment is stopped.

    A “relapse” means the viral load drops to an undetectable level before treatment is completed, but becomes detectable again within 6 months after treatment is stopped. Even if the virus returns at a level that is lower than it was before treatment, a relapse is still considered to have occurred. A relapse can be determined if the viral load starts to rise during treatment, or at any time after the virus becomes undetectable.

    A “nonresponse” means the viral load never drops significantly and the virus remains detectable throughout the course of treatment.

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    What Does A Reactive Hcv Antibody Test Result Mean

    A reactive or positive antibody test means you have been infected with the hepatitis C virus at some point in time.

    Once people have been infected, they will always have antibodies in their blood. This is true if they have cleared the virus, have been cured, or still have the virus in their blood.

    A reactive antibody test does not necessarily mean that you currently have hepatitis C and a follow-up test is needed.

    What Foods Should I Avoid

    What to know about Hepatitis C

    Everyone should avoid eating a lot of fat, cholesterol, salt and processed sugar, even if their liver is healthy. In addition, those with HCV should limit or avoid alcohol. Drinking alcohol will speed up liver damage.

    Eating properly can help decrease some of the symptoms of Hepatitis C, like feeling tired and sick. Drink lots of water for general health benefits. HCV is not a digestive disease diet will not affect the disease. Your provider may put you on a special diet if you have advanced liver disease.

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    What Does It Mean When Different Types Of Blood Tests For Hepatitis C Give Different Results

    The first test your provider probably will perform is called an “antibody” test. A positive result means that you were exposed to the hepatitis C virus at some point in your life.

    If the result is positive, your provider will perform a second test called hepatitis C virus RNA to see if the virus is still in your body. If the RNA test result is positive, then you have chronic hepatitis C infection.

    So what does it mean if you have a positive result for the first test but a negative result for the second?

  • The most likely explanation is that you were infected with hepatitis C but your own immune system fought off the virus. This means you do not have chronic hepatitis C infection, and are not at risk of any medical problems related to hepatitis C.
  • The second possible explanation is that you were infected with hepatitis C but the amount of virus in your body is too small to be detected by the standard test. If someone had virus that was present but such a low amount that the test wasn’t able to detect it, then there could be a “false negative HCV RNA” test. But the newest techniques used by labs for HCV RNA are extremely sensitive and can detect as few as 12 copies of the virus . So, this scenario is possible where you could have a false negative test, but it is unlikely.
  • Getting Tested For Hepatitis C

    A blood test, called an HCV antibody test, is used to find out if someone has ever been infected with the hepatitis C virus. The HCV antibody test, sometimes called the anti-HCV test, looks for antibodies to the hepatitis C virus in blood. Antibodies are chemicals released into the bloodstream when someone gets infected.

    Test results can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to come back. Rapid anti-HCV tests are available in some health clinics and the results of these tests are available in 20 to 30 minutes.

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    Joint And Muscle Pain

    A condition called arthralgia causes joint pain and is common in people with hepatitis C. Itâs different from arthritis, which causes pain and swelling in joints. But infected people can also get hepatitis C-related arthritis.

    Fibromyalgia, which causes body aches and muscle pain, is also common in people with hepatitis C.

    Can The Results Of Liver Panel Tests Point To The Presence Of Hepatitis C

    Go

    A “liver panel” usually includes tests called AST, ALT, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, and some others. Abnormal results could show up in many different conditions, not just hepatitis C. And even if the results of a liver panel are normal, you might still have hepatitis C. So, the liver panel alone cannot tell your provider the answer.

    Hepatitis C can be diagnosed only by blood tests that are specific to hepatitis C:

  • A hepatitis C antibody test can tell you whether you have ever been infected with the hepatitis C virus, but can’t by itself tell you whether the infection is still present.
  • A hepatitis C RNA test looks for the actual virus in the bloodstream. A positive result indicates an ongoing hepatitis C infection. If the RNA test result is negative , then you do not have a chronic hepatitis C infection.
  • In short, if the results of one or more tests on a liver panel are abnormal, generally speaking, the tests should be repeated and confirmed. If the results remain abnormal, your provider should be prompted to look for the cause.

    More important than using the liver panel, if you have risks of having been infected with hepatitis C then you should have the specific hepatitis C antibody test to determine if you have hepatitis C infection.

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