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Lost my mother to this just over two years ago. Only just ready to talk about it.
Apparently this is something of a silent epidemic. Interested if anyone has any experiences to share.
Mother lived like a saint by the way, no possibility of IV drugs being behind it. Understand this makes subject something of a taboo.
No personal exp of it, but I can't understand why they don't offer routine testing for it. As you say, its not just drug users that get it.
New drugs mean its now treatable, but most don't know they have it.
Had a job about 10 years agothat i needed an injection for hepatitis, GP said it waass a very serious disease nobody talked about,and it was really dangerous.
that may have been for hep a or b
There is no inoculation against Hep c, and its the worst variety!
Can you get over it / be cured or is it like HIV where you can just mange the symptoms?
Its always been treatable, but the success rate was poor and the treatment was horrendous.
however...[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26987653 ]new drugs[/url] appear to mean it'll be much easier to get rid of...
Interestingly one of the suspected transmission routes is sharing coke straws ...so the STW standard advice of 'coke and hookers' should potentially come with a warning....:-)
a close family member has it. she picked it up many years ago from a blood transfusion from abroad prior to screening being common practice in most countries.
she has had it >10 years without ever knowing until a random health check flagged up odd liver enzyme results. you canb carry the virus for many years before it causes serious damage to your liver.
as stated above the old drugs meant it could be treated with reasonable success rates but the side effects during treatment (6months I think) were horrible. the new generation of drugs that have been developed (but not yet given on the NHS) appear to have higher success rates with far less side effects. she's been advised to look after herself and wait for these new drugs to become available on the NHS unless the virus kicks off before that happens.
Luis Ocana caught Hepatitis C from a transfusion which led to cancer. He put himself out of his misery a few weeks before the cancer would have killed him anyway.