Hepatitis C often occurs without jaundice

Table of contents:

Hepatitis C often occurs without jaundice
Hepatitis C often occurs without jaundice
Anonim

The main route of transmission of the hepatitis C virus is through blood. At the same time, a minimal amount of infected blood - one hundredth, one thousandth and even ten thousandth of a milliliter is enough to infect a person

But for four out of five patients, it is still not possible to establish exactly where and how they became infected. This often happens in the dentist's office. There are cases of infection in salons where a manicure, pedicure or tattoo is done: not all of them sterilize the tools well.

Medical professionals dealing with blood can contract the virus at work. And sexually, contrary to popular belief, the hepatitis C virus is transmitted in very rare cases. For example, when intimate contact occurs during a woman's cycle and the sex is unprotected.

People from the risk group get sick more often, but in recent years this rule does not apply to the full extent either. The risk group includes people who use drugs. Chronic viral hepatitis affects both women who engage in promiscuous and unprotected sex and men who prefer same-sex relationships.

When do the symptoms of liver inflammation appear if the virus enters the body?

The incubation period for the hepatitis C virus is about six months, and the B virus is felt after three months. When the infection is massive, sometimes symptoms appear after a month and a half. It is important to know that in 80% of cases, chronic hepatitis C occurs without jaundice. With hepatitis B, these patients are half as many. The absence of jaundice suggests that a person has reduced immunity.

How to treat a patient with two hepatitis viruses at the same time?

The most dangerous is the combination of viruses B and D: then fibrosis of the liver develops quickly, which is difficult to treat. And viruses B and C compete with each other, fighting for a breeding place in the cytoplasm of the cell. Virus C, which is more variable and reproduces faster, "suppresses" virus B. Therefore, the disease is usually milder.

Recommended: