2. What Is It?
• Hepatitis C is a virus that attacks your liver.
• It is by far the most serious of hepatitis
infections, partly because it shows little to no
symptoms.
3. How Can I Contract It?
• Hepatitis C is transmitted through infected
blood. This includes:
Shared Needles
Blood transfusions and organ transplants before
1992
Babies born to women with the virus
Sexual contact
4. What Increases My Chance Of
Infection?
• You are at high risk if you are in the
aforementioned groups and/or:
Are a health care worker who has been exposed
to infected blood
Have HIV
Have received body piercings or tattoos in
unsanitary environments
Received clotting factor concentrates pre-1987
Received hemodialysis treatments for long
periods of time
5. Should I Get Screened?
• For high-risk patients, testing may help doctors start
treatment or slow liver damage.
• High-risk patients should start screening as early as
possible.
• Blood tests will help to:
Determine if you are infected with the virus
Measure the quantity in your blood (viral load)
Evaluate genetic makeup of the virus (genotyping) to
guide treatment decisions
• Your doctor might recommend a liver biopsy (inserting
a thin needle to extract tissue) to determine the
severity of liver damage.
6. How Does Treatment Work?
• Being diagnosed doesn’t mean you need
treatment. If you have only slight liver damage,
treatment might not be needed, because the risk
of future problems is low. Future blood tests may
be recommended.
• The hepatitis C infection is treated with antiviral
medications intended to clear the virus from
your body. This could be a combination of drugs
taken over several weeks.
7. How Does Treatment Work?
(continued)
• Once your first round of medication is
complete, your doctor will test your blood for
the virus. If it is still present, you may need a
second round of drugs.
• Antiviral medications can have serious side
effects such as depression and flu-like
symptoms that may be serious enough to stop
or delay treatment.
8. How Does Treatment Work?
(continued)
• If your liver has been severely damaged, a
liver transplant may be an option. During this,
a surgeon will remove your liver and replace it
with a healthy one.
• Note that this is NOT a cure. Since the infection
will likely reoccur in the new liver, treatment
will continue.
