Thursday, May 24, 2012

Video- 3% of the world has chronic hepatitis C



 Hepatitis C is the most common blood borne infection in the United States it's -- estimated almost four million Americans are infected with the virus. But most of them don't know it and in his three special for three different shows up. From mobile research aimed at changing this destructive virus away.

Man contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion he had in either 1968 or 1982.  

 Conventional drugs interferon and ribavirin have rather harsh side effects depression anxiety skin rashes and other problems that cure rate after a year of this to drug therapy. Is 35 to 40%. But Kingsley says when you introduce a third drug into the mix a protease inhibitor. The cure rate goes to eighty to 95%.

Sexual Transmission Of Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is primarily transmitted by exposure to infected blood. In developed countries this happens most often by IV drug use when people share needles (Mukherjee, Dhawan, 2010), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that 33% of people between the ages of 18-30 who use IV drugs are infected with hepatitis C, and the rate of infection is approximately 70 - 90% in older person who used, or still use IV drugs (CDC, 2011).

Sexual transmission of hepatitis C is a controversial topic. Hepatitis C virus RNA has been isolated in semen and cervical smears (Tohme, Holmberg, 2010) (Wang, C.C., et al., 2011), although not consistently.

The current literature clearly states that in monogamous, heterosexual couples in which one partner is infected with hepatitis C but the other is not, sexual transmission does not happen; (Wang, C.C., et al., 2011), (Alter, 2011).

The CDC does not recommend that monogamous, heterosexual couples need to use condoms (CDC, 2011). The sexual transmission of hepatitis C is clearly less efficient than the sexual transmission of hepatitis B and HIV (Alter, 2011), but sexual transmission of hepatitis C can, and does occur in specific populations.

A concurrent HIV infection sharply increases the risk of sexual transmission (Tohme, Holmberg, 2010), especially among men who have sex with men (Gamage, Read, Bradshaw, 2011). People who have multiple sex partners have an increased risk of sexual transmission of the virus, and people who engage in sexual practices that involve exposure to blood and/or tearing of mucosal membranes are at a higher risk.
Exposure to genital ulcerations and the presence of a sexually transmitted
disease also increases the risk of sexual transmission of hepatitis C (Thome, Holmberg, 2010).

Mayo Clinic

Question
How common is sexual transmission of hepatitis C?

Answer
from Michael Picco, M.D. Hepatitis C is transmitted primarily by exposure to blood containing the hepatitis C virus. Transmission rarely occurs from exposure to other infected body fluids, such as semen.

If you're in a long-term, monogamous relationship with a partner who has hepatitis C, your risk of sexual transmission is low — 0 to 0.6 percent a year. For these monogamous couples, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) doesn't recommend routine condom use to prevent transmission. But couples should avoid sharing razors, toothbrushes and nail clippers.
The risk of transmission is slightly higher — about 1 percent a year — if you have multiple short-term sexual relationships with partners who have hepatitis C. This risk increases if a partner is also infected with HIV. Under these circumstances, the CDC recommends routine condom use to reduce your risk of transmission.

If you're concerned about hepatitis C, talk to your doctor. Hepatitis C can be diagnosed by a blood test. Treatment may include medications to help clear the virus from the bloodstream.

2 comments:

  1. At 3:08 on the video a slide purports that "Intercourse w/ infected person" puts people in a "high risk group" for transmission of hepatitis C. This is blatantly false as hepatitis C is not a STD and according to the CDC "the risk of transmission from sexual contact is believed to be low".

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  2. Thank you for comment, I edited the post and inserted information on the sexual transmission of HCV. I missed it in the video, thank you again for pointing it out.
    Tina

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