Infectious disease Project

Hepatitis C
Nikkita Mae C. Ampongan| Ms. Aslam| R.H. King Academy
 What is Hepatitis?
 Hepatitis – is the inflammation/swelling of the
liver.
 Inflammation – is when our liver is getting sore
and reddish that may result for our body
tissues to be injured or get infected. Also
inflammation can cause for our body to not
work properly.
 What is hepatitis c?
 Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the many viruses
that can cause inflammation of the liver.
 Hepatitis C is generally termed as the
inflammation of liver. The inflammation can be
caused by an infection. Hepatitis can also be
caused by over using of alcohol, medicines,
chemicals, poisons, and other toxics or by
other disease.
 Inflammation of the liver caused by infection with
Hepatitis C virus or HCV is referred to as
hepatitis C.

 Hepatitis history
 It is difficult to limit the origin of HCV in such
a short period of human history for some reasons
that the virus is found in remote areas all over the
world. Additionally the virus is spread through
blood to blood contact, making it difficult to find
the routes of the virus. In the year 1960’s-1970’s
Scientists in that year made some tests for
identifying hepatitis A (1963), and hepatitis B
(1973) but based from the tests they had been
taken many of the blood samples were tested
negative for hepatitis A and hepatitis B.
They believed t hat about 90%-95% of cases
previously classified as non-A non-B (NA/NB) were
act ually hepat it is C. In t he 1980’s Daniel W.
Bradley and Chiron Michael Hought on lead t he
invest igat ion t o ident ify t he virus. Blood banks
began screening blood donors for hepat it is C in
1990, but it wasn’t unt il 1992 t hat a blood t est
was perfect ed t hat effect ively elim inat ed HCV
from t he blood t ransfusion supply. Now t he
danger of get t ing hepat it is C t hrough a blood
t ransfusion is around .01%.
 etiology
 Hepatitis C is usually spread through contact with
blood products. People who use intravenous (IV) drugs
can get hepatitis C when they share needles with
someone who has the virus. Also not proper
sterilization of needles used can also cause hepatitis.
Until recently some health departments, clinics,
hospitals and doctors forget to dispose their hazardous
waste properly affecting many lives of people by
having this kind of disease. Syringes and needles are
soaked in alcohol but this procedure is proven that it
didn’t work. Drug usage, tattoos and Acupuncture are
also known to be some reason for these disease to
spread out. One of the example of these are people
experiment through their curiosity on one point of their
lives, not knowing the consequences but still doing
what they wanted.
 Symptoms
 When hepatitis C gets in the body of a person it is
referred as an acute phase. In the acute phase people
might experience getting tired easily, and yellowing of
the eyes and skin. Other symptoms such as headache,
fever, and abdominal pain may also occur. However,
many people experience no symptoms during this
acute phase of infection. When symptoms are present
they can range from mild to severe. The most common
early symptoms are mild fever, headache, muscle
aches, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and
diarrhea. Later symptoms may include dark coffee-
colored rather than dark yellow urine, clay-colored
stools and abdominal pain.
Sharing cont am inat ed needles m ay have spread t he disease
from one person t o anot her. Ot her people m ay have visit ed
unclean t at t oo parlours or acupunct ure shops. Last com m on
cause of HCV is sexually t ransm it t ed disease. Som e people
m ay be diagnose w it h HCV virus because t hey lack
knowledge about having affairs wit h som ebody t hat t hey
don’t know if t hey are sick or not . Alt hough sexual
t ransm ission as a cause of hepat it is c is a m at t er of som e
debat e, m ost healt h care professionals do advise safe sex
pract ices as a precaut ion against infect ion. The hepat it is C
virus affect s our body by t aking t he advant age t o dam age
our liver. When a person w ho has a hepat it is c virus w ill
suffer and will st op it ’s liver t o work properly. Hepat it is c
m ay lead t o a disease or even liver cancer. The presence of
HCV virus at t ack t he liver t hat leads t o it ’s inflam m at ion.
 preventions
Some main things on how to prevent HCV:


1. Sharing kitchen utensils - spreading hepatitis C requires

direct contact with infected blood, not saliva.
2. Kissing someone – Kissing is actually not well known way on
how to catch HCV but you can get these virus through
saliva. Also kissing is not a high risk for Hepatitis C.
3. Getting a tattoo or piercing – We all know that tattoo is a
famous way of skin art getting this can be safe if you
will come to a tattoo studio following correct procedures
of proper hygiene and disposal of waste. Some
unregulated and amateur artist probably present the
greatest risk.
1.Eat ing food and drinking w at er – Som e hepat it is viruses are
spread t hrough food and wat er, but not hepat it is C. St reet
foods in som e count ries are fam ous, som e of t hem don’t
realize t hat t he food t heir selling is cont am inat ed or worst
t hey already have t he virus.
2.Pract icing Safe Sex - Hepat it is C can be spread t hrough
sexual cont act , especially rough sex (w hen t he skin is at
risk of being cut or scrat ched), but t his is a very low risk.
3.Nursing a Baby - Obviously, t his one is for t he wom en only.
While t here is a very slight risk of spreading hepat it is C
from a pregnant w om an t o t he baby, breast feeding does
not spread hepat it is C. However, w om en should hold off
w hen t hey have cracked or bleeding nipples.
 Treatment and cures
 The objective of treating hepatitis c is to lessen the infection of the liver disease.
Although there are some possible treatments to cure the disease and they are
as follows:
 Pegylated interferon and ribavirin – in these treatment there are two
combinations of medication to take and that is pegylated and interferon
and ribavirin. This treatment is taken as a pill. It is recommended that a
patient should take it about 48 weeks. Treatment of hepatitis C is not
recommended for everyone for some factors. The patient and the health
care provider should discuss the potential risks and benefits of the
treatment before making a plan to proceed. This are some of the factors
that people can’t take the treatments:
› Interferon treatment is not recommended for people who have
depression problems because they can use this to commit suicide
and cause there life to death. Interferon can cure people with
disciplined mind and can control there selves.
› Ribavirin is not recommended for women who are pregnant,
contemplating pregnancy or cannot be able to use a reliable birth
contol.
› People experiencing some disease like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis
may be in greater risks of treatment-related complications related
to interferon.
 TREATMENTS AND CURE
 Cure – The chances of the patients to get better is depending
on what type of hepatitis c virus. (i.e. genotype) In general
the chances of genotype 1 is approximately 40 to 50
percent while for genotype 2 and 3 is approximately 80
percent. The patient must wait for 6 months to know if the
treatment cured him/her and also wait for the therapy to be
complete. They defined cure as the absence of virus for
more than 6 months after stopping the therapy. Follow up
studies of this people shows that there are no virus in the
liver after 10 year.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 MamasHealth, Inc.™. (2000-2009). The Human Liver: function, body location, disease
of, picture, shape. November 12, 2009, from
http://www.mamashealth.com/organs/liver.asp
 Alan Franciscus, Editor-in-Chief (2006). A Brief History of Hepatitis C. November 12,
2009, from
http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hepatitis/factsheets_pdf/Brief_History_HCV_2006.pdf
 Steven Kobrin (2001-2008). Causes of Hepatitis C. November 19, from
http://www.small-business-ideas.org/causes-of-hepatitis-c.shtml
 MediResource Inc. (1996-2009) Hepatitis C - Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, Diagnosis
- Condition Factsheets - C-Health. November 19, 2009.
http://chealth.canoe.ca/condition_info_details.asp?disease_id=292
 UpToDate, Inc. (2009) Hepatitis C. November 20, 2009. from
http://www.uptodate.com/patients/content/topic.do?topicKey=~nVqO9/rmP3yrYl#15
 BRIAN HAYNES. Las Vegas Review-Journal (1997-2009) HEPATITIS C OUTBREAK: LV
police suggest charges - News - ReviewJournal.com. November 20, 2009. from
http://www.lvrj.com/news/lv-police-suggest-charges-70605177.html
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