Hepatitis C is spread through blood that has been contaminated with the hepatitis C virus. Because before the 90' s the blood donors were not tested for hepatitis C, many people have come to be infected with the hepatitis C virus. This disease, hepatitis claims as much as ten thousand lives each year in a ,single country. Because this particular hepatitis virus has many subtypes that affect a number of six genetic types, a vaccine against hepatitis C has not been made yet. The treatment for hepatitis C is also very risky and difficult. This type of hepatitis virus and with it hepatitis C was actually found somewhere in the year 1989. Before this year, there were only tests for hepatitis A and B. When the test for hepatitis C was finally discovered, many people that were tested for hepatitis A and B and were fond negative, turned out to have hepatitis C. The hepatitis C virus is spread through blood. Nowadays the risk of developing hepatitis C is higher because of drug use. Many people use intravenous drugs



and share the needles, thus getting infected with hepatitis C. Before this, the main reason why people got infected with the hepatitis C virus were blood transfusions. Because there was no test for hepatitis C, people who donated blood could have been infected with the hepatitis virus and thus infect other people who were using their blood. Nowadays, this kind of hepatitis infection is out of the question, due to the hepatitis C virus test.

Hepatitis C can do a lot of damage to other organs besides the liver, but its main target is the liver. The word hepatitis itself means the inflammation of your liver. Problems treating this disease, hepatitis C have been around since the discovery of the condition. It is very hard to treat hepatitis because this disease does not heal itself. There are more then half of the hepatitis patients who are not able to get ride of the hepatitis virus enterely. Furthermore, as much as eighty percent of the hepatitis patients will develop chronic hepatitis because their body is not able to fight against the hepatitis virus, although they get treatment.