1500 word paper

Running head: HEPATITIS C OUTLINE 1

HEPATITIS C OUTLINE 6

Hepatitis C Outline

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Hepatic C is a disease which is raising most concern with regard to its chronic impact. The disease leads to chronic viral disease which can be cured through medication. In the United States, there are more deaths which occur as a result of the infection by Hepatitis C (Andrews, 2018). Hepatitis C leads to liver illness and cirrhosis which is transmitted through exposure to the blood or bloody fluids. The infection is progressing to the chronic state to approximately 80 percent of patients who have been infected (Wilkins, Akhtar, & Gititu, 2015).

Definition

Hepatitis C is a disease caused by the Hepatitis C Virus which is considered to be an RNA virus which is belonging to the family Flaviviridae. Hepatitis C is replicating within the cytoplasm of the hepatocytes. Stubborn infection by the Hepatitis C virus is depending on the rapid production of the virus and this process continues as it spread from cell to cell, accompanied with the lack of T-cell immune response to the Hepatitis C virus (Shagufta, Khalid, & Shaheen, 2015)

Etiology

Hepatitis C occurs as a result of transmission of the Hepatitis C virus via percutaneous blood or blood fluid exposure. This disease also occurs when a virus is transmitted from the mother to the infant through transplantation and through unprotected sex among the HIV infected men who are having sex with their fellow men. Other risks which lead to exposure of the Hepatitis C disease is sexual contact in which there is a blood-to-blood transmission. Intravenous drug use is also another risk to the exposure for Hepatitis C infections and this account to about 60 percent of the acute infections in the United States (Wilkins, Akhtar, & Gititu, 2015).

Pathogenesis

There are six genotypes of hepatitis C virus and they include 1 (subtype 1a and 1b), 2, and 3. There is damage to the hepatocyte by the Hepatitis C virus infection. The damaging process by the virus occurs through a direct injury to the cell and via a local immune-mediated mechanism which result in the inflammatory condition. Acute hepatitis virus infection progresses to chronic illness amongst 50 to 80 percent of patients. In other situations, there is the development of cirrhosis and the end-stage liver illness in addition to carcinoma.

Manifestation

Hepatitis C disease can have cutaneous manifestation which includes pruritus, lichen planus, urticarial, leukocytoclastic vasculitis, porphyria cutanea, and necrolytic acral erythema (Shagufta, Khalid, & Shaheen, 2015). There are also hepatic manifestations especially among patients with chronic hepatitis C. there is also extrahepatic manifestations which result in mixed cryoglobulinemia. Endocrine manifestations include diabetes mellitus while hematological manifestations include aplastic anemia, thrombocytopenia purpura, and the lymphomas (Liliana, 2015).

Lab Findings

Diagnosis of Hepatitis C virus is established by the laboratory procedure through a hepatic functional test and the aetiological confirmation (Liliana, 2015). The laboratory diagnosis of a patient with hepatitis C shows a mild to severe elevations of the serum transaminases. There is also a positive RF outcome (> 20 IU/ml). There is also alteration of the cryoglobulinemia and the complement (Shagufta, Khalid, & Shaheen, 2015).

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of hepatitis C involves the use of anti-HCV antibody test to help in the screening for the HCV infection. When the anti-HCV antibody test is positive, then it means that it is necessary to confirm the current infection using a qualitative HCV RNA measurement. In case anti-HCV antibody gives a negative outcome for patient who might contacted the disease in the past six months, then HCV RNA needs to be done for every 28 to 56 days for at least six months. Patients whose result is positive based on anti-HCV antibody while at the same time negative for HCV RNA, a patient is not considered to be having hepatitis C (Wilkins, Akhtar, & Gititu, 2015).

Treatment

Treatment of a patient with hepatitis C is done based on the genotype, the degree of the fibrosis or cirrhosis, prior medication, comorbidities, and the negative impacts. Therapy is always used to help in the reduction of all-cause mortality and liver-related complications. Drugs like ledipasvir plus sofosbuvir and the ombitasvir or the taprevir/ritonavir plus dasabuvir are used for the treatment of the chronic hepatitis C genotype 1 (Wilkins, Akhtar, & Gititu, 2015).

Prognosis

About 170 million individual are affected with hepatitis C in the world and this comprises about 3 percent of the entire world population. This disease is common chronic blood born infection within the United States. This disease is involved in about 40 percent of chronic liver illness (Shagufta, Khalid, & Shaheen, 2015). According to the World Health Organization, hepatitis C is leading to cirrhosis of the liver when the treatment I not properly done. It is also estimated that cirrhosis leads to 1.1 percent of death in the entire world. In the United States, about175 million people are affected by cirrhosis of the liver and it is the 10th common cause of deaths in this country (Shagufta, Khalid, & Shaheen, 2015).

References

Andrews, R. R. (2018). Family physicians can manage adults with Hepatitis C. American Family Physician, 97(6), 414-416. Liliana, C. (2015). Extrahepatic manifestation in chronic hepatic. Acta Medica Transilvanica, 20(3), 76. Shagufta, A., Khalid, M., & Shaheen, A. J. (2015). The frequency of cutaneous manifestations in patients of hepatitis C infection. Journal of Pakistan Association of Dermatologists, 25(4), 285-290. Wilkins, T., Akhtar, M., & Gititu, E. (2015). Diagnosis and management of Hepatitis C. American Family Physician, 91(12), 836-842.