Hepatitis C is a severe disease caused by a virus that affects the liver. The virus is transmitted by blood to blood contact and contrary to what some people believe, you can't get the virus by touching or kissing an infected person. You can get it by getting an injection with the same needle that was used on someone with the virus or by having sexual intercourse with a person that suffers from hepatitis C.

The disease can be acute or chronic, in the first 6 month from the infection it is acute and it rarely presents any symptoms. In 20% of the cases the virus is eliminated from the body in these first 6 month. If it is not eliminated then the hepatitis becomes chronic and the virus starts to affect the liver. It does serious damage to the liver and it must be treated as much as possible.

The purpose of the hepatitis C treatment is to try to stop the virus from causing more damage to the liver and to try to eliminate it from the body.

If a patient has a mild acute hepatitis C than they probably don't know that they have it because there are no symptoms, but if they know that they have been infected then the treatment to prevent the hepatitis from becoming chronic must be started. This treatment is not hard and it is successful in most cases.

If a chronic hepatitis was just diagnosed than treatment must begin soon. The patient's life changes when he/she fins out that he/she has chronic hepatitis C.

Hepatitis C is treated with the help of drugs> Most doctors recommend a combination of interferon with ribavirin. These two drugs help the body figt the hepatitis C virus and try to stop it from inflammating the liver. The treatment period depends on the patient and on the type of hepatitis genotype the patient has. Genotype 2 and 3 need 6 months of treatment and genotype 1 usually takes one year to treat.

The hepatitis C treatment may or may not work. Some people are cured and at some people the drugs have no effect. If the doctors see that 3 months have passed without any result then the treatment is ceased. A recent study has shown that the hepatitis treatment work for half the patients.

The bad part about the treatment is that the drugs are very expensive and they also have serious side effects. The most common side effects are headaches, fever, fatigue and weakness, depression and more.

Some people do not even start the hepatitis C treatment because of its cost, chance of success and side effects. You need to consult your doctor and make a decision on what treatment you would like to choose.