INFECTIOUS

DISEASE
PROJECT
Hepatitis C
Nikkita Mae C. Ampongan| Ms. Aslam| R.H.
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 that
about 90%-95% of cases previously classified
as non-A non-B (NA/NB) were actually hepatitis
C. In the 1980’s Daniel W. Bradley and Chiron
Michael Houghton lead the investigation to
identify the virus. Blood banks began
screening blood donors for hepatitis C in 1990,
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.
Sharing contaminated needles may have spread the disease
from one person to another. Other people may have visited
unclean tattoo parlours or acupuncture shops. Last common
cause of HCV is sexually transmitted disease. Some people may
be diagnose with HCV virus because they lack knowledge about
having affairs with somebody that they don’t know if they are
sick or not. Although sexual transmission as a cause of hepatitis
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
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.
4. Eating food and drinking water – Some hepatitis viruses are spread
through food and water, but not hepatitis C. Street foods in
some countries are famous, some of them don’t realize that the
food their selling is contaminated or worst they already have
the virus.
5. Practicing Safe Sex - Hepatitis C can be spread through sexual
contact, especially rough sex (when the skin is at risk of being
cut or scratched), but this is a very low risk.
6. Nursing a Baby - Obviously, this one is for the women only. While
there is a very slight risk of spreading hepatitis C from a
pregnant woman to the baby, breastfeeding does not spread
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
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_200
• 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/rmP3
• 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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