Advanced liver disease destroys the liver and makes it unable to process wastes and perform the over 600 jobs it has in our body. The liver becomes decompensated and eventually, without transplant, the patient will die.
If you just think of the word hepat-itis it would mean...disease of liver, just as tonsil-itis is disease of the tonsils, etc.
Many things can cause liver disease, including
Hep C, hep A, and hep B.
Alcoholism
Autoimmune Hepatitis (AIH0
Hemachromatosis (too much iron in blood)
Fatty liver (sometimes called NASH --Non Alcoholic Steatohepatitis.)
and some others
Hep C is acquired by blood to blood contact
IV drug use with shared needles
Tattoo practices with shared needles or paints (newer procedures are more sanitary)
Shared straws using inhaled drugs (with irritated or bleeding nasal tissues)
Sexual transmission if there are
open sores (rare)
Unprotected medical transfer
battlefields where gloves don't really do the job
first responders at horrible accidents
sticks in error for medical professionals
Transfusions (hemophiliacs were at great risk before the bloods were tested for Hep C, etc.)
My partner, transplanted May 2011, had multiple problems
Alcoholic cirrhosis (daily drinker since 1960s)
Hep C (acquired by IV drug use late 1960s)
Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) (found in February 2011)
The direct line between alcohol and Hep C, as I understand it, is that those whose livers are failing from Hep C increase the speed at which the liver fails by using alcohol. The real science behind it, I don't understand. I sort of explained it to myself that the little Hep C virus replicates faster when bathed in alcohol...that's likely not right at all, but it made sense to Mike.
The direct line between Hep C and HCC is that they find the incidence of liver cancer in the Hep C population is high. As if the Help C makes the liver ripe for spawning those little HCC tumors!
Hope this helps.
Mama Lama
Post Edited By Moderator (hep93) : 6/20/2012 10:54:23 PM (GMT-6)