Hepatitis C

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Digestive system

Hepatitis C

Digestive system organs

Hepatitis C

Alternative Names:

Non-A or non-B hepatitis
Symptoms:

Many people who are infected with the hepatitis C do not have symptoms. Hepatitis C is often detected during blood tests for a routine physical or other medical procedure. If the infection has been present for many years, the liver may be permanently scarred -- a condition called cirrhosis. In many cases, there may be no symptoms of the disease until cirrhosis has developed.

The following symptoms could occur:

Jaundice
Abdominal pain (right upper abdomen)
Fatigue
Loss of appetite
Nausea and vomiting
Low-grade fever
Pale or clay-colored stools
Dark urine
Generalized itching
Ascites
Bleeding varices (dilated veins in the esophagus)

Signs and tests:

Hepatitis virus serology
ELISA assay to detect hepatitis C antibody
Hepatitis C PCR test
Elevated liver enzymes
Liver biopsy shows chronic inflammation
Hepatitis C genotype. Six genotypes are present around the world. Most Americans have genotype 1 infection, which has lower response rates to treatment.