Health Update: Health Update: What is hepatitis C? A doctor explains everything to know. – What Experts Say– What Experts Say.
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Hepatitis C is widely known by name, but far less understood in reality. It’s a condition that can exist quietly in the body for years, causing little to no outward sign that anything is wrong, which is part of what makes it so easily overlooked.
Yet its silence should not be mistaken for harmlessness. When unrecognized for too long or untreated, hepatitis C can lead to serious and sometimes even life-threatening damage to the liver. The good news is that advances in medicine have dramatically changed its outlook, transforming what was once a daunting diagnosis into one that is highly manageable and often curable.
Understanding what hepatitis C is, how it spreads and how it is treated can replace fear with clarity and help people seek proper testing, care and prevention.
What is hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is a viral infection that primarily affects the liver, the organ that plays a central role in filtering toxins, aiding digestion and regulating energy in the body, explains Dr. William Carey, a senior hepatologist at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
Globally, an estimated 50 million people live with it, but many don’t realize it. Carey says that some people commonly live with the illness for 10 to 20 years before liver complications develop.
This is because early infection often causes few or no symptoms. When symptoms do appear, they are usually mild and nonspecific, such as fatigue, nausea, joint pain or abdominal discomfort.
Sometimes, hepatitis becomes chronic. When this happens, inflammation can occur, slowly damaging the liver and leading to complications such as cirrhosis, liver failure, liver cancer and even death. “Deaths from hepatitis C and subsequent liver complications occur more than many people realize,” says Carey. Indeed, the World Health Organization notes that some 242,000 people die from the infection every year.
What causes hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is caused by the hepatitis C virus, which is spread through blood-to-blood contact. Carey explains that this happens when blood from an infected person enters the bloodstream of someone who is not infected.
Before the early 1990s, a common source of transmission was blood transfusions and organ transplants, because routine screening of the blood supply was not yet standard. But today, and in countries with strong blood safety practices, this form of transmission is now extremely rare.
Now, the most common cause of new infection is multiple people using the same needles or syringes. For this reason, “people at risk are those who share needles or get tattoos outside of a properly licensed facility,” says Carey.
The virus is not limited to this single route of exposure. It can also be transmitted during medical or cosmetic procedures if equipment is not properly sterilized, though this is uncommon in regulated healthcare settings.
Even less commonly, hepatitis C can be passed from a pregnant mother to her baby during childbirth. Sexual transmission is also possible, but Carey notes it is also rare.
And because misunderstandings about transmission have contributed to stigma – which can prevent people from seeking testing or care – it’s also important to understand what does not spread hepatitis C. The virus is not transmitted through casual contact such as hugging, kissing, sharing food or drinks, coughing or sneezing. It’s also not spread through breastfeeding, except in very rare cases where there is cracked or bleeding skin.
How is hepatitis C usually treated?
No matter how the infection is acquired, treatment most commonly involves direct-acting antiviral medication, which targets specific steps in the virus’s life cycle. These drugs are taken by mouth, typically once a day, for eight to 26 weeks. When used as directed, the medication “results in a cure in nearly 100% of patients,” says Carey. Just as promising, he adds, is that “treatment side effects are nearly nonexistent.”
This is a major improvement over older treatments that required injections that lasted much longer and often caused severe fatigue and flu-like symptoms. After treatment, blood tests confirm whether the virus is no longer detectable, which is considered a cure.
Even still, prevention remains the best treatment, Carey explains. Prevention occurs by avoiding contact with infected blood, which means never sharing needles or drug-use equipment, and making sure tattoos or piercings are done with sterile tools and following standard precautions when handling blood.
Widespread testing and treatment also act as powerful preventive measures because curing individuals reduces the number of people who can pass the virus to others. “Every adult,” says Carey, “should be tested at least once for the presence of hepatitis C antibodies.”