Signs and symptoms
Acute infection
Hepatitis C infection causes acute symptoms in 15% of cases. Symptoms are generally mild and vague, including a decreased appetite, fatigue, nausea, muscle or joint pains, and weight loss and rarely does acute liver failure result. Most cases of acute infection are not associated with jaundice. The infection resolves spontaneously in 10-50% of cases, which occurs more frequently in individuals who are young and female.
Chronic infection
About 80% of those exposed to the virus develop a chronic infection. Most experience minimal or no symptoms during the initial few decades of the infection, although chronic hepatitis C can be associated with fatigue. Hepatitis C after many years becomes the primary cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. About 10–30% of people develop cirrhosis over 30 years. Cirrhosis is more common in those co-infected with hepatitis B or HIV, alcoholics, and those of male gender.Those who develop cirrhosis have a 20-fold greater risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, a rate of 1–3% per year, and if this is complicated by excess alcohol the risk becomes 100 fold greater. Hepatitis C is the cause of 27% of cirrhosis cases and 25% of hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide.
Liver cirrhosis may lead to portal hypertension, ascites (accumulation of fluid in the abdomen), easy bruising or bleeding, varices (enlarged veins, especially in the stomach and esophagus), jaundice, and a syndrome of cognitive impairment known as hepatic encephalopathy. It is a common cause for requiring a liver transplant.
Extrahepatic
Hepatitis C is also rarely associated with Sjögren's syndrome (an autoimmune disorder), thrombocytopenia, lichen planus, diabetes mellitus, and B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders.Thrombocytopenia is estimated to occur in 0.16% to 45.4% of people with chronic hepatitis C. Putative associations with Hyde's prurigo nodularis and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis have been reported. Hepatitis C infection is also associated with a condition called mixed cryoglobulinemia, which is inflammation of small and medium sized blood vessels (or vasculitis) caused by deposition of immune complexes involving cryoglobulins.
No comments:
Post a Comment