History of HCV

In the 1960's studies proved that over twenty percent of people who had blood transfusions contracted Hepatitis. Despite Hepatitis A (HAV) and B (HBV) vaccinations, the percentage remained high. In the 1970's a newly available diagnostic test indicated that ninety percent of these "posttransfusion hepatitis" cases where not from HAV or HBV. Thus this unknown hepatitis was named non-A, non-B hepatitis. In 1988 scientists finally discovered the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV).

Problem of HCV

HCV is the most common blood born infection in the United States, more so than HIV. The reason is due to its long incubation period (up to a number of decades) without any symptoms. HAV, HBV, HCV are all the most prevalent of the five types of Hepatitis Viruses, yet HCV is the only virus for which we have no vaccine. Because of this lack of a cure, HCV is the most common cause of liver cancer in the world. 18,190 people in the United States are in need of a liver transplant. Last year, only 5,340 livers where transplanted. Of those, 347 were transplanted from living donors (mostly friends and family who give up 60% percent of their liver to save someones life). Why so few? The cost is $150,000.

• 84 Percent of all acute HCV infections become chronic infections (est. 142,800,000)
• 70 Percent of all chronic HCV infections lead to chronic liver disease (est. 99,960,000)
• 3 Percent of all people with chronic liver disease die (est. 2,998,800)

Statistics

Approximately 170,000,000 people are infected with HCV around the world (estimated by the United States Surgeon General). Epidemiologists calculated this fugure by blood testing people and finding Anti-HCV antibodies. Strangely, 20 percent of documented acute HCV cases seem to resolve spontaneously. In the United States alone, 3.9 million people are infected (1.8 percent of the United States population) and only 2.7 million have chronic HCV. 10,000 people in the United States die every year due to complications related to HCV

At the time of discovery of HCV in the mid-1980's, 240,000 Americans were infected with acute HCV annually. Due to blood screening tests and precautionary measures related to other sources of infection, the infection rate in the United States has dropped to less than 36,000 annually.

The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia has discovered that HCV seems to affect Americans differently depending on their ethnicity. It has yet to be determined why this is so. Click here to view their chart from 1994.

Chronic HCV cases are expected to increase in the near future due to a large number of individuals infected between the 1960's and the 1980's primarily as a result of recreational drug use

Reservoir

The reservoir for HCV is only humans, yet the reservoir of chronically infected individuals is so expansive that HCV can easily be contracted.