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Show Do You Have Hepatitis C? Are You Sure? BY DR. ISADORE ROSENFELD Hepatitis C AL DE FOIE” (LIVER TROUBLE) IS said to be the most commondiagnosis made by French doctors. who,regardless oftheir patients’ symptoms, almost always blame the liver. That's not totally A through E—have been identified so far. The best knownare hepatitis A and B, and now hepatitis C. (Hepatitis D and E arefairly esoteric at the moment and unreasonable,givenall the vital func- not oflarge-scale significance.) Youget hepatitis A from infected food tions the liver performs and the many and water. It causes jaundice and a brief ways it can becomediseased illness from whichyou almost always re- What theliver does.It makes scores cover completely. By contrast, hepatitis ofdifferent complex proteins from food, B, whichusually is transmitted by blood, and hormoneisattached to albumin in the bloodstream, which then carries themto various organs. Globulins are able liver viruses. Then, in the late 1960s, doctors became aware of a third virus, which key among them being albumin and can causeserious liver damage. For globulins. Virtually every vital mineral years, these were the only two identifi- Should You Be Tested? CCRC Rorun(eta CORPCeurd screened for hepatitis C. Even PRCearusan Pee enceceng OaUe NCL rh PCa eeROR cats aReameur Cae ee ere Ser oes its COaeroat ead Bau ee Ley CeMorne uneeal UnCua eeae CMEC eet) ncn eertee COC uc cay OeCue CRC Pou ec tty * You've had sex witha PUR CCrains Oe uCCrna eCeat) DORE U ne Crt h CeCenerti) Cae aun ae Le suspect the equipment used was Oe aeaaa) ROMCC intra POU) m i al a hepatitis C carrier. the stuff of which antibodies are made— the cornerstone of the body's defenses and immune system. Other vital proteins made in theliv- causedhepatitis following blood trans- able toscreen blood for the presence of so they don’t accumulate andpoison you. Younameit: The liver does it But it’s vulnerable. All kinds of things cango wrongwiththeliver: Itcan be hurt by a wide variety of chemicals, ranging fromalcoholto antibiotics; it It wasn’t until 1990 that doctors were infect you, the hepatitis C virus remains dormantfor 10, 20 or moreye: s. Dur ing all that time, you may feel perfect ly well, even thoughthevirus is already is of major importance At least five liver viruses—hepatitis Das aoes CarGhniir | drugs like Retail Aran 5 a Cone UN erty rea] MYTH: Once Prt ey lion Americans with AIDS.) Theproblem is that 70% of the peo: ple with hepatitis C have no symptoms whatsoever. Most don’t know they have So, because normal liver function is critical to our health, the news that there is a widespread epidemic of hepatitis C MYTH: There isa v comparison, thereareless than a mil bacterium, virus or fungus andit can beinfected by virtually any tisC can be Urata rae ee ea) Seem eke Martfed transfusionshasbeenvery small. How ever, there are 4 million Americans almost 2% of the population—who were infectedwiththevirus before 1992. (By of the body, notably theintestinal tract which cancers travel from other parts FACT: Hepatitis C this virus, and by 1992 blood banks began testing for it routinely. Since then, therisk of contracting hepatitis C from it, yet they are carriers—able to transmit thevirus, often unwittingly Unlike the hepatitis A and B viruses, which makeyousick shortly after they can become congested with blood when the heart is weak; it’s a favorite site to MYTH: Only per Oe ely ed intected dlood transtusions can have hepat Finally, in 1989, researchers did find the we don’t clot too easily or hemorrhage from even a small cut. Theliver also controls hundreds of chemical reactions in the body through the enzymes it them. It detoxifies medications you take Caer Tar an ert Vey a etal s identified, they named it Non A, Non B. culprit and labeled it thehepatitis C virus. makes. It stores substancessuchas sug ar andreleases them when you need ee oan: ator baka Ome fusions. But since it was never actually er maintaina proper balancein the blood betweenclotting and bleeding, so that Myths & Facts: vada mial Cte Ouray Pra aetar} Sens ACT Unlike hepatitis A and B. playing havoe withyour liver. The most commonsymptoms, when they do ap. pear are fatigue, loss of appetite and vague abdominal pain, due to inflam: mation of the liver—chronic hepatitis About 20% of these cases go onto de velop cirrhosis—a serious, life-threat ening and debilitating scarring of the liver that also makes the feet andbelly swell and causes engorgement of arter ies, which can then hemorrhage An other subset of patients with chronic he patitis C develops cancer of the liver To give you someidea of the magni tudeof the problem, hepatitis C and its continued PAGE (2 JANUARY 24, 1909 PARADE MAGAZINE |