What health problems do people with hepatitis C have?
Of every 100 persons infected with HCV about: • 85 persons may develop long-term infection (chronic hepatitis C). This means that they carry the virus in their bodies and can pass it on to others, usually for the rest of their lives, • 70 persons may develop chronic liver disease, • 15 persons may develop cirrhosis over a period of 20 to 30 years, and • 5 persons may die from the consequences of long term infection (liver cancer, cirrhosis, or liver failure). The disease appears to progress slowly, symptoms often do not appear for ten or twenty years. A small percentage of persons with chronic hepatitis C develop medical conditions outside the liver (this is called extrahepatic). These conditions are thought to occur due to the body’s natural immune system fighting against itself.
