Hepatitis C

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Hepatitis C, only discovered and delineated from the other diseases associated with AIDS in the late 1980s, is a global disease that effects the liver. The author points out that there are at least 11 recognized genotypes of the Hepatitis C virus family, most of which also have subtypes. This demonstrated ability to mutate is cited as the most likely reason for the difficulty of treatment, diagnosis, and vaccination development. The paper relates that, because this virus has only recently been discovered, the treatment options are closely associated with the types of treatments used for Hepatitis B and often involve the long-term therapeutic use of Interferon and/or a combination of similar drugs associated with the mimicking of naturally occurring immune chemicals used by the body to fight viral infections.

From the Paper:

"It is not completely clear at this stage, whether the genotype determines either severity of infection or complete disease manifestation as chronic. ?Current scientific belief is that factors such as duration of a person's HCV infection, their HCV viral load, age, grade of liver inflammation or stage of fibrosis may play an important role in determining response to interferon treatment.? One thing that is well known about the genotyping of Hepatitis C virus is that the prevalence of occurrence is specific to regions in the world, suggesting that the virus has evolved over thousands of years."

More papers on Hepatitis C:

• Analytical Essay # 123156 : "Characteristics of Hepatitis C"
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• Essay # 85241 : "Nursing and Hepatitis C"
• Research Paper # 99840 : "Hepatitis C"

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