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This disorder is a disease of the liver, which is caused by the hepatitis C virus, also known as HCV. The early symptoms of this disease may be extreme fatigue, which the patient may ignore until they develop other symptoms. These later symptoms include abdominal pain, clay colored stools, darker colored urine and the skin turning yellow, which is called jaundice. Of the patients who have acute hepatitis C about 25% will be able to make a complete recovery. Unfortunately the remaining percentage will be stuck with it permanently. This is termed as chronic hepatitis C.

Several years ago, the most common way that hepatitis C was transferred to other patients was thought to be by tainted blood used in transfusions, but nowadays the blood testing procedures have improved considerably, and the risk is now very small. These days the highest risk group is illegal drug users. The sharing of any equipment or appliance which has any blood or bodily fluids on it when taking drugs is a simple way of transferring this disease.

The puzzling aspect of chronic hepatitis C is that a percentage of people can have the disease but not be troubled by it at all, as it can lie dormant for several years. In fact, these people may only find out about it when they need to have a blood test for some reason.

Any patient who has chronic hepatitis C will eventually develop cirrhosis of the liver. This will do irreparable damage and cause scarring which stops the liver functioning correctly. Fortunately this can take a long time to occur, as long as 20 years from when the disease first appears. A number of these patients can go on to develop liver cancer, but again this can take a very long time to appear.

Because there is no vaccine to hepatitis C, trying to prevent it occurring in the first place is the only thing that an individual can do to lessen the risk factors. The easiest way to avoid contracting hepatitis is basic cleanliness and vaccinations. Contracting any disease is frightening, but hepatitis can be more traumatic because of its confusing nature and also because you might not show any symptoms of having it.

What are the Most Common Hepatitis Symptoms?

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver due to different causes. The symptoms of hepatitis are many and they are also different, depending on what type of hepatitis you have. However, there are many symptoms alike in all the hepatitis cases. These are the most common hepatitis symptoms.

This might sound a little bit funny, but the primary, the first hepatitis symptom is actually hepatitis. What is that, you might say. Well hepatitis means inflammation- itits of the liver- hepa. So the first sign of hepatitis is the inflammation of the liver. After this start in hepatitis, you will go through different hepatitis stages, each one of them having its particular symptoms. The next stage after hepatitis is the acute hepatitis phase. The symptoms of this hepatitis phase last about four weeks. When you find yourself in this hepatitis stage, you will experience symptoms similar to the flu, your skin and eyes will be yellowish and the urine will be dark. Nausea, fatigue and abdominal pain are also some of the hepatitis symptoms that you will have to deal with in this period. With proper hepatitis treatment, all the symptoms will go away. However, there are cases when patients go on to develop chronic hepatitis. They can realize that by the hepatitis symptoms that they have. If you find yourself in the chronic hepatitis stage, you will have to deal with weight loss, malaise and jaundice. These symptoms of hepatitis are only for those that have an active chronic hepatitis. If the hepatitis that you have is passive, you will probably have no hepatitis symptoms at all.

Hepatitis A is caused by poor conditions of living and sanitation. This type is cause of hepatitis is caused by a virus that sperads from the fecal material to water and food. The period of incubation in hepatitis A is from 15 to about 45 days. The onset of this type of hepatitis is abrupt and includes a fever. Hepatitis B is also caused by a virus, which appears in the blood, fecal mater, urine, saliva and even semen. The incubation period of hepatitis B is from 50 to 180 days. During this incubation period of hepatitis, the infection can spread, even if there are no hepatitis symptoms present. The virus that causes hepatitis C is transmitted by blood. This type of hepatitis is the worst hepatitis type and it is usually found in adults.

How to Prevent Hepatitis?

Hepatitis is a very common disease that can cause a lot of damage to your liver. In cases of viral hepatitis, there are some ways of prevention, but this generally speaking.

The most important thing to if you do not want to get infected with hepatitis is to keep a very good hygiene of your body and try to avoid living in crowded homes and most of all in unhealthy conditions. Because the viral hepatitis is mostly spread in the water, be very careful when travelling to places of the world where the quality of the water is uncertain. To avoid getting yourself infected with hepatitis, take care what you drink, where you bathe. If you are a seafood fan, be careful not to eat shellfish from waters that might be contaminated from the swage system. You can risk getting infected with hepatitis virus. Wash your hand every time after using the toilet and be careful not to eat with your hand dirty if you do not want to develop hepatitis. If, unfortunately somebody that you live with has developed hepatitis, clean all things that person with hepatitis has used.

Another common way to get infected with hepatitis is through needles that have been infected with hepatitis. This is mostly common in people who use drugs and in some medical procedure in less developed countries. Therefor, it is very good to let people know what risks they expose themselves, including hepatitis, when using intravenous drugs. Sexual contact can also be a cause for hepatitis infection, so teens should be educated accordingly.

In cases of hepatitis A, there are vaccines available. This vaccine is mostly recommended to people who travel a lot or have other liver problems, besides hepatitis. Furthermore, if those people have jobs that include contact with children or with many people, like in hospitals, the hepatitis vaccine is very indicated. There is available a vaccine for hepatitis B as well, which is a very good news in what hepatitis risk is concerned. Unfortunately, such a vaccine does not exist when hepatitis C is concerned. Studies on animals have shown that hepatitis C does not provoke the response that is needed for the vaccine to have any effect. If you contact the hepatitis virus, depending on what type of hepatitis you have, there are incubation periods. In hepatitis A, it lasts about one month, in hepatitis B from 4 to about 20 weeks and the longest is in hepatitis C, between two and twenty six weeks.