L’hepatitis C it is one of those silent infections that is talked about too little even though, given the data, it affects many more people than you might think. The most recent statistics from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità reveal that Italy is the country that has the highest number of European patients treated for hepatitis Cwith at least 260 thousand patients treated from 2015 to today.
The official data, however, does not take into account the cases of infection that have not yet been confirmed. The most recent estimate is about thousands of unanticipated cases of hepatitis C, with a particular prevalence among adults aged between 35 and 75. This is because, as the ISS explains, the initial HCV infection is acute in most cases asymptomatic and anicteric. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, there are at least 50 million in the world people with chronic HCV infectionincreasing at the rate of 1 million new diagnoses each year.
Hepatitis C: subjects most at risk, too often unaware
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Most of the people with hepatitis C do not experience any symptoms and many realize they are affected only when the first damage to the liver begins to emerge, but this can also happen months or even years after the infection, with serious consequences such as liver failure, cirrhosis and cancer of the liver. The ISS data speaks clearly: up to 85% of infected people will suffer from chronic disease and 20-30% of patients with chronic hepatitis C develops, over 10-20 years, cirrhosis and, in approximately 1-4%, hepatocellular carcinoma.
How to transmit and how to take the test
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Hepatitis C is transmitted through direct contact with blood infected by the HCV virus and this means there is a greater risk of infection with sharing personal care items such as razors, toothbrushes, manicure tools, sharing needles or syringes and even performing tattoos or piercings with non-needle needles. sterile. Until a few decades ago, thanks to the poor reliability of blood tests, it was not difficult to contract the infection after blood transfusions or organ transplants and it is also for this reason that those who underwent a transfusion or transplant before 1992 was involved in the many screening campaigns in Italy.
Even those who have not yet shown any symptoms can be infected and for this reason it is essential to undergo the test test for the diagnosis of hepatitis C, especially if you fall into the categories at risk of infection. The good news is that the Ministry of Health has promoted it throughout the national territory free screening aimed at people born between 1969 and 1989 to identify and treat people who are not aware of their positivity.
How the Hepatitis C test works
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The hepatitis C test is quick and easy: a blood sample is sufficient, without even the need to be fasting, to check for the possible presence of specific antibodies against the virus. In case of positivity, then, in that same sample the presence of the genetic material of the virus itself will be searched and, based on the result, a decision will be made with a professional when to start the antiviral therapy process.
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Contrary to what one might think, in fact, today There is no vaccine against hepatitis C. Since 2015 in Italy the National Health System has covered antiviral drugs to be taken orally and without significant side effects which can completely eliminate the hepatitis C virus in just 8 weeks. Doctors, however, recommend that those suffering from hepatitis C carry out specific vaccines for hepatitis A and B virusessince possible infection with viruses could create these pathologies complications severe in a patient already suffering from liver disease.
