Dealing with Hepatitis C

A reader of the Times has asked this writer to submit an article on Hepatitis C. Thinking about this subject reminds the writer of another area which almost all of his education came following medical school and residing. 65 years ago what was known about hepatitis could be summarized in about two words “Yellow Jaundice.” The cause was not known nor was there any proven information about the mechanism of transmission. Some patients died, some progressed to develop cirrhosis of the liver, and most seemed to recover.

Hepatitis Infections Behind U.S. Rise in Liver Cancer‎

A type of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, is increasing in the United States, and health officials attribute much of the rise to untreated hepatitis infections.

Chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C are responsible for 78 percent of hepatocellular carcinoma around the world. In the United States, as many as 5.3 million people have chronic viral hepatitis and don't know it, according to the May 6 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).