Hepatitis C often has no symptoms, so you may still be infected if you feel healthy. If you continue to engage in high-risk activities, such as injecting drugs frequently, regular testing may be recommended. Your doctor will be able to advise you about this. Hepatitis C is usually diagnosed using 2 blood tests : the antibody test and the PCR test. The results usually come back within 2 weeks. The antibody blood test determines whether you have ever been exposed to the hepatitis C virus by testing for the presence of antibodies to the virus.
Antibodies are produced by your immune system to fight germs. The test will not show a positive reaction for some months after infection because your body takes time to make these antibodies. What are the extrahepatic manifestations of chronic HCV infection? Testing and Diagnosis. Who should be tested for HCV infection? Who should be tested for HCV on a routine basis?
How should providers determine hepatitis C prevalence to inform testing within their practices? What blood tests are used to detect HCV infection? How do I interpret the different tests for HCV infection? Is an algorithm for hepatitis C diagnosis available? Is someone with a positive anti-HCV test still at risk for hepatitis C?
Can a patient have a normal liver enzyme e. Where can I learn more about hepatitis C serology? Management and Treatment. What should a provider do for a patient with confirmed HCV infection?
What advice and messages should be given to patients diagnosed with hepatitis C? Which types of health-care providers can effectively manage patients with hepatitis C? What resources are available to providers who wish to manage treatment for patients with hepatitis C Is routine HCV genotyping required when managing a person with hepatitis C? Should people with hepatitis C be restricted from working in certain occupations or settings?
Should patients with acute hepatitis C receive treatment? What is the treatment for chronic hepatitis C? Are patients undergoing treatment for hepatitis C at risk for reactivation of an existing hepatitis B virus HBV infection? How are these patients managed? Hepatitis C and Health-care Personnel. How can health-care personnel avoid exposure to HCV?
What is the risk of acquiring hepatitis C after being accidentally exposed to HCV-contaminated blood or body fluids in the workplace? Other than needlesticks, do other exposures like splashes to the eye place health-care personnel at risk for hepatitis C? Should HCV-infected health-care personnel be restricted in their work? How are health-care personnel managed after being exposed to the blood of an infected patient? Pregnancy and Hepatitis C. Should pregnant women be tested for HCV antibodies?
Can a mother with hepatitis C infect her infant during birth? Should a woman with hepatitis C be advised against breastfeeding? When should children born to HCV-infected mothers be tested to see if they were infected at birth?
Who is at risk for hepatitis C infection? The following people are at increased risk for hepatitis C: People with HIV infection Current or former people who use injection drugs PWID , including those who injected only once many years ago People with selected medical conditions, including those who ever received maintenance hemodialysis 4 , 5 Prior recipients of transfusions or organ transplants, including people who received clotting factor concentrates produced before , people who received a transfusion of blood or blood components before July , people who received an organ transplant before July , and people who were notified that they received blood from a donor who later tested positive for HCV infection Health care, emergency medical, and public safety personnel after needle sticks, sharps, or mucosal exposures to HCV-positive blood Children born to mothers with HCV infection Is it possible for someone to become infected with HCV and then spontaneously clear the infection?
What is the likelihood of HCV infection becoming chronic More than half of people who become infected with HCV will develop chronic infection 6 , 7. Why do most people remain chronically infected with HCV? Seven HCV genotypes and 67 subtypes have been identified 9. Possible exposures include Injection-drug use currently the most common mode of HCV transmission in the United States 2 Birth to an HCV-infected mother Although less frequent, HCV can also be spread through: Sex with an HCV-infected person an inefficient means of transmission, although HIV-infected men who have sex with men [MSM] have increased risk of sexual transmission Sharing personal items contaminated with infectious blood, such as razors or toothbrushes Other health-care procedures that involve invasive procedures, such as injections usually recognized in the context of outbreaks Unregulated tattooing Receipt of donated blood, blood products, and organs rare in the United States since blood screening became available in Needlestick injuries in health-care settings What is the prevalence of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs PWID?
What is the risk of acquiring hepatitis C from transfused blood or blood products in the United States? Do hepatitis C outbreaks occur in health care settings?
CDC recommends that people who are diagnosed with hepatitis C be provided medical evaluation by either a primary-care clinician or specialist [e. Providers should talk to their patients about the effectiveness and benefits of direct acting antivirals DAAs ; the importance of avoiding alcohol, because alcohol consumption can accelerate cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease; the need to follow a healthy diet and stay physically active, especially for patients who are overweight i.
What resources are available to providers who wish to manage treatment for patients with hepatitis C? Prevalence of spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus infection doubled from to Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol ;—3.
Viral Hepatitis Surveillance—United States, Case-control study of hepatitis B and hepatitis C in older adults: Do health care exposures contribute to burden of new infections? Hepatology ;— Patient notification for bloodborne pathogen testing due to unsafe injection practices in the US health care settings, — Med Care ;— Pathogenesis, natural history, treatment, and prevention of hepatitis C.
Ann Intern Med. Natural history of hepatitis C. Clin Liver Dis. Westbrook RH, Dusheiko G. J Hepatol. Expanded classification of hepatitis C virus into 7 genotypes and 67 subtypes: updated criteria and genotype assignment web resource.
Distribution of hepatitis C virus genotypes in a diverse US integrated health care population. J Med Virol. Hepatitis C virus genotypes and viral concentrations in participants of a general population survey in the United States. Race, age, and geography impact hepatitis C genotype distribution in the United States. J Clin Gastroenterol ;53 1 — Definition and facts of liver transplant. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.
Health Resources and Services Administration, U. Department of Health and Human Services. National data website. Clinical Infectious Diseases. Global prevalence of injecting drug use and sociodemographic characteristics and prevalence of HIV, HBV, and HCV in people who inject drugs: a multistage systematic review.
Lancet Global Health. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Health Topics: Blood Transfusion. World Health Organization. Consolidated strategic information guidelines for viral hepatitis: planning and tracking progress towards elimination Geneva: World Health Organization; Spradling P.
Travelers Health. CDC Yellow Book. Chapter 4, Travel-related infectious diseases. It produces antibodies to seek out and destroy the foreign invaders.
Once you make antibodies, you always have them, whether you have an active hepatitis C infection or not. After your blood is tested, the results will be negative nonreactive or positive reactive.
A positive result indicates you have hepatitis C antibodies. Next, your doctor will likely order a qualitative blood test to determine if you have an active infection. The qualitative RNA test checks your blood for particles of the hepatitis virus. This test is also called the polymerase chain reaction PCR test. The antibodies found by your previous test were from an earlier infection that was successfully cleared.
A positive result means the virus has been detected and you have an active hepatitis C infection. Your doctor will probably order a quantitative test. Your test results will be reported in numbers.
More than that is a high viral load. This can be helpful in choosing treatment and monitoring how well the treatment is working. However, you should take steps to prevent contracting the virus in the future. Some manage to clear the infection without treatment, and some benefit from drug therapy. For others, it becomes a slowly progressing disease. There are six known genotypes and many subtypes of hepatitis C. Viral genotyping can determine which type you have so that you get the appropriate treatment.
Your doctor may also want to perform liver function tests before you start treatment. You contract hepatitis C when you come into contact with the blood of a person who has a hepatitis C infection. The process of screening blood in the United States keeps it from being transmitted during transfusions and organ transplants. Hepatitis C can be transmitted from mother to baby during childbirth.
It can be transmitted from a needle stick in a medical setting too.
0コメント