Basically, hepatitis C is a liver disease which causes an inflammation in the liver. It is caused by a virus that basically infects the liver which can lead to a permanent liver damage. In some cases, it may also result to liver failure, liver cancer and cirrhosis which are all life-threatening illnesses. Inflammation can cause the organ not to work properly. The reason why hepatitis C is considered one of the notorious diseases is because a person will not normally be aware that he has already contracted the disease. The person will only know of his condition once he already has some liver damage which can take many years before it shows.
There are two types of hepatitis C that everyone should be aware of. The first one is Acute Hepatitis C wherein a person who has this disease can either have it only for a short time and will eventually get better. The other one is Chronic Hepatitis C wherein a person who is infected with the virus develops a long-term hepatitis. Contracting hepatitis C may sound scary but not many are aware that even though having hepatitis C can be really serious, a person can still manage the disease and lead an active life. But first, how do you get Hepatitis C?
Basically, one can get hepatitis C if there is contact with an infected person's blood. There are many cases in which one could get hepatitis C without his knowledge. The most common reason why a person gets hepatitis C is that he was born to a mother who has this disease. Another case is when a person had sexual intercourse with more than one partner in the past 6 months or with a person who has a history of sexually transmitted diseases. However, experts have not yet proven that a person could get hepatitis C through sexual contact alone. They noted that if there is a risk through sexual contact, it could be only very small because the risk is higher if one engages with multiple sexual partners.
Sharing needles and other instruments used in illegal injection drugs is also a reason on how do you get Hepatitis C. In fact, sharing of needles for illegal injection drugs is the most common cause why people get hepatitis in the United States. Moreover, those who underwent blood transfusion or organ transplant before July 1992 are also at risk because it was only in July 1992 when the United States have started screening all donated blood and organs for hepatitis C. Getting vaccination can also be a reason to get hepatitis C because some use the needles more than once when giving shots to patients. Also, getting a tattoo or piercing with a needle that has infected blood on it can cause a person to get hepatitis C because it could be that the equipment used for tattooing and piercing is not sanitized properly.
Nevertheless, the common knowledge that people usually have wherein one can also contract the virus from merely hugging, coughing, sneezing or kissing is not true. Normally, people think that any contact with a person who has hepatitis C would make certain that they will also get the same disease. As what was mentioned, hepatitis C can only be spread when there is direct contact with a person's infected blood. So a normal physical contact or a contact with saliva with a person who possibly has hepatitis C is not a reason for the other to contract the same virus. It should be noted that hepatitis C is caused by the HCV which is found in the blood so there is no way that a simple physical contact can already spread the virus itself.
On the other hand, those who are infected with hepatitis C usually do not manifest any symptom at the early stages. Hepatitis C can be an elusive illness; it does not show any signs and a person can only discover that he has acquired the illness when there is liver damage already. Nonetheless, if symptoms do develop, they may include having yellowish eyes and skin which is called jaundice. A person who has hepatitis C would also have a longer time for any bleeding to stop. The person will also feel having swollen stomach or ankles and an upset stomach. Furthermore, the person would also obtain bruises, diarrhea with light-colored stools and dark yellow urine. Other symptoms are tiredness, fevers and loss of appetite.
All these have bearing on how do you get Hepatitis C; and so do the complications one can obtain with this disease. In this case, hepatitis C could lead to liver damage such as cirrhosis and when one has cirrhosis, the symptoms would be different. Cirrhosis symptoms include redness of the palms which is primarily caused by expanded small blood vessels. There would be clusters of blood vessels below the skin that would appear to be tiny red spiders and can usually be seen on the chest, shoulders and face. Another symptom is the swelling of belly, legs and feet and as well as shrinking of the muscles. Variceal bleeding is another symptom for cirrhosis wherein there is bleeding from enlarged veins in the person's digestive tract.
There are many more health conditions that are linked to the reasons on how an individual gets infected with Hepatitis C that is why knowing how one could obtain this disease is very important. The treatment would also depend on the damage in the person's liver, other health complications and the type of hepatitis C one has acquired. However, if proper medication and treatment has been made, it can make a big difference on the person's overall well-being.
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