NIH Consensus Statement on Management of Hepatitis C: 2002.

CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of newly acquired hepatitis C infection has diminished in the United States. This decline is largely due to a decrease in cases among IDUs for reasons that are unclear and, to a lesser extent, to testing of blood donors for HCV. The virus is transmitted by blood and such transmission now occurs primarily through injection drug use, sex with an infected partner or multiple partners, and occupational exposure. The majority of infections become chronic, and therefore the prevalence of HCV infections is high, with about 3 million Americans now estimated to be chronically infected. HCV is a leading cause of cirrhosis, a common cause of HCC and the leading cause of liver transplantation in the United States. The disease spectrum associated with HCV infection varies greatly. Various studies have suggested that 3 to 20 percent of chronically infected patients will develop cirrhosis over a 20-year period, and these patients are at risk for HCC. Persons who are older at the time of infection, patients with continuous exposure to alcohol, and those co-infected with HIV or HBV demonstrate accelerated progression to more advanced liver disease. Conversely, individuals infected at a younger age have little or no disease progression over several decades. The diagnosis of chronic hepatitis C infection is often suggested by abnormalities in ALT levels and is established by EIA followed by confirmatory determination of HCV RNA. Several sensitive and specific assays a...
Source: NIH Consensus and State of the Science Statements - Category: American Health Tags: NIH Consens State Sci Statements Source Type: research