Hepatitis C
Hepatitis C
My uncle was not the only person to become infected with the hepatitis C virus, but in fact many people are presently struggling to keep it under control. Today four million Americans are infected with the hepatitis C virus and there are thirty thousand new cases of this virus found each year (Turkington 9). Hepatitis C takes ten thousand lives each year just in the United States, and without effective treatment the death rate is expected to triple in the next fifteen years (Turkington 9). Seventy-five percent of those infected with the virus will develop chronic hepatitis and half of those people will develop cirrhosis of the liver (Turkington 9). The hepatitis C virus is sometimes referred to as the 'Hidden Epidemic' because an estimated four million people are infected with it and symptoms may not show until twenty years later (Grady). It is also the leading cause of liver transplantation in the United States (Bushie). This virus affects so many people and we should all learn and study more about it to hasten its spread.
Hepatitis is a rather new virus to the science world, but it has been around for a very long time. Before scientists knew about hepatitis C, they had discovered A and B types, so when they found C they called it non-A non-B (Turkington 5). The virus was discovered in 1987, but not until after 1990 was blood tested for hepatitis, causing many people to receive and contract the virus (Turkington 5). Hepatitis is thought to have originated in the Far East because of the diversity and number of people infected in that location (Turkington 6). Strains of hepatitis are found in Thailand, which has led researchers to believe it mutated in Asia to form all its genotypes (Turkington 6). There are five types of the hepatitis virus and they are A, B, C, D, and E (Hoofnagle). Hepatitis C is caused by a single-stranded virus with a core of ribonucleic acid (Turkington 10). Hepatitis C has so many genotypes that...
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