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Author:
News Canada

(NC)-Your liver works 24 hours a day, performing over 500 vital functions for your body. Most of the blood that returns to your heart passes through the liver. Your body can't function without it.
The hepatitis C virus lives in your liver. It inflames liver cells, which, over time, affects the way your liver functions. The effect of the hepatitis C virus varies from person to person. There is no way to predict how your body will react to it. There are, however, some things that are known:
You can live with hepatitis C for many years without experiencing any major symptoms, or you might simply feel tired. Symptoms can come and go over time. Their presence or absence does not tell you the degree to which liver damage may or may not be occurring.
Chronic, long-term inflammation of the liver can cause liver cell damage and result in fibrosis (liver scarring), or even cirrhosis. This damage can occur in as little as five years, or as long as 30 years.
About 20% of chronic hepatitis patients develop cirrhosis within 10 to 20 years.
Use of recreational drugs or alcohol can speed up inflammation and the development of fibrosis or cirrhosis.
There is an increased risk of liver cancer in people with cirrhosis.
The good news is that current drug treatments can be very effective for people with hepatitis C. Combined with proper nutrition, plenty of rest, and avoidance of recreational drugs and alcohol, these treatments help many who have the virus lead relatively healthy lives.
If you think you may be at risk of getting hepatitis C, see your doctor. The virus can be detected by a simple blood test. For more information on how to keep your liver happy and healthy, visit Health Canada's Web site at www.healthcanada.ca/hepc.


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A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Hepatitis... The Hepatitis B virus Hepatitis B is what we used to originally known as just simply serum hepatitis. Hep B has been recognized as this new name since World War II. The virus is responsible for current epidemics in parts of Asia and Africa. Recognized as endemic in China and various other parts of Asia, the Hepatitis B virus has infected over one third of the world's current population. Hepatitis B is in the Hepadnavirus family. Meaning that it consists of a proteinaceous core particle that has the viral genome inside of it in the form of double stranded DNA. It also has an outside lipid-based envelope that contains embedded proteins. These envelope proteins on the outside are involved in viral binding and release into susceptible cells. Where as the inner capsid refinds the DNA genome to a cell's nucleus where it transcribes viral mRNAs. Although HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and Hepatitus are not related they are both viruses that use reverse transcription process. This also include HTLV. Hepatitis B's genome is DNA, and reverse transcription is one of the latter steps of the entire process which results in making new viral particles. HIV on the other hand has an RNA genome and reverse transcription is one of the first steps in replication of the virus. Hepatitis B is most commonly transmitted through direct exposure to bodily fluids that contain the virus. This is a wide category but in most cases includes: - Re-using contaminated needles and syringes - Uncleanly Blood transfusions - Unprotected sexual contact - Direct transmission from mother to child during childbirth The dominant mode of transmission depends largely on the prevalence of the disease in a given area. For example if areas such as North America drug abuse and unprotected sex are the primary mode of...