{"id":6128,"date":"2023-06-28T22:27:49","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T16:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/?p=6128"},"modified":"2023-10-12T10:39:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T05:09:46","slug":"hepatitis-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/hepatitis-c\/","title":{"rendered":"Hepatitis C: What It Is, Symptoms &amp; Diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">What is Hepatitis C?<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hepatitis C is a viral infection that causes inflammation and damage to the liver. The liver is a vital organ for processing nutrients, filtering blood and fighting infections. The function of the liver may be affected when the liver is inflamed or damaged.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Hepatitis C is caused by the hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis C spreads through sharing needles to inject drugs, contact with infected blood, unprotected sex with an infected person, or during childbirth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Antiviral medicines are used to treat both acute and chronic Hepatitis C.\u00a0 Hepatitis C vaccination at this point is not available.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6130\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/how-is-hepatitis-c-diagnosed.jpg\" alt=\"hepatitis-c\" width=\"1200\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">What are the symptoms of Hepatitis C?<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">People often have no symptoms and the signs and symptoms of Hepatitis C, if they appear, may include:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Abdominal pain<\/li>\n<li>Dark urine<\/li>\n<li>Fever<\/li>\n<li>Joint pain<\/li>\n<li>Nausea and vomiting<\/li>\n<li>Weakness and fatigue<\/li>\n<li>Jaundice<\/li>\n<li>Clay or grey-colored stools<\/li>\n<li>Bruising or bleeding easily<\/li>\n<li>Poor appetite<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">What are the complications of Hepatitis C?<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Complications may be avoided by early diagnosis and treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The long-term hepatitis C infection can cause serious complications such as:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Liver cirrhosis<\/li>\n<li>Liver cancer<\/li>\n<li>Liver failure as advanced cases of liver cirrhosis may cause the liver to stop working.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">What are the risk factors for developing Hepatitis C?<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The risk factors for developing hepatitis C are:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Injected or inhaled Illicit drugs<\/li>\n<li>Received a blood transfusion or organ transplant before 1992<\/li>\n<li>Exposure to infected blood, e.g., if an infected needle pierces the skin<\/li>\n<li>Born to a mother with hepatitis C<\/li>\n<li>Have HIV<\/li>\n<li>Received a tattoo or body piercing by an unsterile instruments<\/li>\n<li>Sharing personal items, such as glucose monitors and toothbrushes, that may have come into contact with infected blood.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\">How is Hepatitis C diagnosed?<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Doctors diagnose hepatitis C based on medical history, physical examination, and blood tests. The blood tests for hepatitis C include:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Hepatitis C Antibody (Anti-HCV) test is used to determine the presence of Hepatitis C viral infection in individuals with signs and symptoms, such as:\n<ul>\n<li>Abdominal pain<\/li>\n<li>Dark urine<\/li>\n<li>Fever<\/li>\n<li>Joint pain<\/li>\n<li>Nausea and vomiting<\/li>\n<li>Weakness and fatigue<\/li>\n<li>Jaundice<\/li>\n<li>Clay or grey-colored stools<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The test detects the presence of antibodies against the Hepatitis C virus. Antibodies are proteins the immune system produces when the body detects a foreign substance, such as a virus. The test is also used to screen for Hepatitis C infection during pregnancy to prevent transmission of infection from mother to child.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The<\/strong> <strong>Anti-HCV test<\/strong> <strong>results can be categorised as below:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Reactive<\/strong>: Indicates the presence of Hepatitis C antibodies in the blood.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Non-reactive<\/strong>: Indicates absence of Hepatitis C antibodies in the blood.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Hepatitis C RNA Test can show whether a person still has hepatitis C virus and how much virus is in the blood.<\/li>\n<li>Genotype test is used to find out details about the strain, or form, of the hepatitis C virus. The doctor uses the test results to recommend treatment based on the hepatitis C genotype.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The doctor may recommend additional tests such as the below to assess the extent of liver damage:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Transient elastography (FibroScan)<\/li>\n<li>Blood tests<\/li>\n<li>Liver biopsy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><em>Disclaimer:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>This blog is for educational purposes only and you should not use it as a substitute for medical advice or consultation. It is not to be substituted for the advice or treatment of a healthcare professional.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Hepatitis C? Hepatitis C is a viral infection that causes inflammation and damage to the liver. The liver is a vital organ for processing nutrients, filtering blood and fighting infections. The function of the liver may be affected when the liver is inflamed or damaged. Hepatitis C is caused by the hepatitis C [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1055],"tags":[1611,1612,826,1613],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6128"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9367,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6128\/revisions\/9367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lalpathlabs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}