Hepatitis C »
What is hepatitis C?
Hepatitis C is an infection of the liver caused by the
hepatitis C virus (HCV). It is difficult for the human
immune system to
eliminate the virus from the body, and infection with HCV usually becomes
chronic. Over decades, chronic infection with HCV damages the liver and can
cause liver failure in some people. In the U.S., the number of new cases of
infection with HCV has declined over the last 10 years from a peak of some
200,000 annually to about 19,000 in 2006. When the virus first enters the body,
there usually are no symptoms, so these numbers are estimates. Up to 85% of
newly infected people fail to clear the virus and become chronically infected.
In the U.S., more than three million people are chronically infected with HCV.
Infection is most common among people who are 40 to 60 years of age, reflecting
the high rates of infection in the 1970s and 1980s. There are 8,000 to 10,000
deaths each year in the U.S. related to ...
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My sister at age 56 was diagnosed with Stage 4 Advanced Adenocarcinoma Liver Cancer from an unknown primary in September. She passed away 4 months later. The cancer ate right through the many rounds of chemotherapy she was given. It was so aggressive. It has been said that people who live in 3rd world countries are at a higher risk of developing this type of cancer because they don't have access to the advanced medical care that people in the United States easily have. My sister was an American living in the United States. How could this happen to someone who was under the care of 3 doctors one of which was an endocrinologist, a gastroenterologist and an internist? How does this type of cancer go undetected? Had she not gone to her internist complaining of her side hurting and that doctor doing an X-ray of her ribs and a CT scan, she would not have known she had this cancer. The CT scan picked up the top of her liver which showed the tumors. Her doctor told her that this cancer had been growing for at least 1 year. How did it run under the radar? The doctor's explanation was it's like a submarine, it lays low for a long time and then all of a sudden it decides to attack and by then it's too late. Well can't they do a blood test to determine if you have a submarine laying at the bottom of your ocean? Needless to say, my sister suffered a horrendous death. We finally had to decide to have the hospice people sedate her to put her out of her painful misery. No one should have to suffer a horrendous death like that. For heaven's sake they put dogs and cats down with more compassion. Published: March 19 ::