Hepatitis C is the inflammation when the liver is infected by hepatitis C virus (HCV). Hepatitis C was initially addressed as “Non-A nor B Hepatitis” but was separated in 1989. Now it is officially known as hepatitis C virus.

Right now in Taiwan, there are 2-3% of people suffering from chronic hepatitis C while the carriers for hepatitis C in Taiwan are 300,000 to 600,000 people. In some special remote areas and townships, the prevalence rate for hepatitis can even reach as high as 40~60%.

Path of Infection 

The infection mainly takes the course of direct contact between blood and blood. The path of infection includes: blood transfusion, drug addicts, venous injection (i.e. nutrition shots), and the needle used for tattooing and acupuncture, will likely propagate hepatitis C virus. The incidence rate for pregnant mothers carrying hepatitis C virus to pass the virus to babies is less than 5%. The difference between hepatitis C and hepatitis B is that sexual conduct is less likely to pass hepatitis C.

Symptoms and Signs  

Patients will not show any symptom during the infection period of acute hepatitis virus and less than 10% of patients will show minor symptoms similar to those of influenza. Such symptoms include nausea, fatigue, fever, headache, poor appetite, brown urine or jaundice, abdominal pain and muscular aches as well as other symptoms. The majority of patients with chronic hepatitis C does not have any symptom but can live a normal life.   

Diagnosis Indicators

The most common measurement indices are serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT, normal value < 40 U/L), aspartate transaminase (SGOT, normal value < 34 U/L), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and checking the existence of Anti-HCV and hepatitis C virus in serum.

SGPT and SGOT are both the enzymes released to the blood after the liver is injured. These two enzyme indices usually increase in the patients with hepatitis C. In many patients infected with hepatitis C virus will slightly increase or increase by an intermediate level, which usually is the initial sign of infection.

Treatment Approaches

• All-oral direct-acting antiviral agents (DAA):

The treatment with Maviret lasts between 8 weeks, the treatment for Epclusa lasts for 12 weeks, and the treatment with Zepatier lasts for 12 weeks (Hepatologist will choose optimal regimen according to your clinical conditions).

Vosevi lasts for 12 weeks. (For treatment failure due to prior DAA regimen.)

Diet and Lifestyle Guides

• Fixed time and amount for the 3 meals a day; avoid processed food, pickled food and molded food.
• Patients with any type of hepatitis should not eat raw or uncooked fish, shell or meat.
• Patients infected with hepatitis C should avoid food with high content of fat, salt or sugar.
• Many studies show that excess drinking will aggravate the condition of hepatitis C. Among the alcoholic patients with hepatitis C, the condition of 58% of patients will turn into liver cirrhosis. Among patients without drinking and among patients not drinking, only 10% of them will turn into liver cirrhosis. Drinking will injure the liver and it is suggested that patients with hepatitis C should avoid drinking.
• Many medicines (regardless of prescription or non-prescription medicine) require the metabolism via liver and hence patients of hepatitis C should avoid unknown drugs.