Drug therapy may effectively treat a potentially life-threatening condition associated with cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases, according to a new study by Mayo Clinic researchers. The study was posted in March on ...
Mar 22, 2019
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There are currently more than three million people in the United States with hepatitis C, a condition that can lead to serious and even deadly liver complications. In the U.S. prison system, the prevalence of hepatitis C ...
Mar 22, 2019
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Alcohol and other substance-use problems take enormous psychological and societal tolls on millions of Americans. Now a study from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Recovery Research Institute shows that more than ...
Mar 21, 2019
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The researchers behind the study believe that regular screening and improved access to new treatments have contributed to greatly reducing the transmission of the infection. They also believe that if this progress can be ...
Mar 06, 2019
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One of the commonest causes of congenital disability, the Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV), is less prone to mutation than previously thought, a finding which could help develop a successful vaccine, UCL researchers have found.
Feb 25, 2019
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Nine patients at Penn Medicine have been cured of the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) following lifesaving heart transplants from deceased donors who were infected with the disease, according to a study published in the American ...
Feb 25, 2019
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Chinese investigators said Thursday tests on a batch of a plasma product feared to have been contaminated with HIV have turned up negative for the virus that causes AIDS.
Feb 07, 2019
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A comprehensive package of prevention, screening, and treatment interventions could avert 15.1 million new hepatitis C infections and 1.5 million cirrhosis and liver cancer deaths globally by 2030—equal to an 80% reduction ...
Jan 29, 2019
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(HealthDay)—Among deceased organ donors, there has been an increase in the proportion at increased risk for transmitting hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and HIV to recipients, according to research published ...
Jan 25, 2019
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Providing clean injecting equipment through needle and syringe programmes is a highly cost-effective way of preventing hepatitis C (HCV) transmission among people who inject drugs and could save millions of pounds in infection ...
Jan 23, 2019
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Hepatitis C is an infectious disease affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The infection is often asymptomatic, but once established, chronic infection can progress to scarring of the liver (fibrosis), and advanced scarring (cirrhosis) which is generally apparent after many years. In some cases, those with cirrhosis will go on to develop liver failure or other complications of cirrhosis, including liver cancer.
The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact. Most people have few, if any symptoms after the initial infection, yet the virus persists in the liver in about 85% of those infected. Persistent infection can be treated with medication, peginterferon and ribavirin being the standard-of-care therapy. Only 51% are cured overall. Those who develop cirrhosis or liver cancer may require a liver transplant, and the virus universally recurs after transplantation.
An estimated 270-300 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is a strictly human disease. It cannot be contracted from or given to any animal. Chimpanzees can be infected with the virus in the laboratory, but do not develop the disease, which has made research more difficult. No vaccine against hepatitis C is available. The existence of hepatitis C (originally "non-A non-B hepatitis") was postulated in the 1970s and proved conclusively in 1989. It is one of five known hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E.
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