Health effects

How will hepatitis C affect my health?

It can take anything from 50-150 days for acute hepatitis C to develop. Most people who are infected with the hepatitis C virus will not develop any symptoms. However, about 20% of people will have symptoms, often a short ‘flu-like’ illness.1

Symptoms of acute hepatitis C may include:

  • Fatigue (extreme tiredness)
  • Nausea (feeling sick)
  • Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes)
  • Dark urine
  • Fever.

In 70–90% of people, the virus remains in their body after the acute phase of the infection.1 These people are then said to be chronically infected. It is not known why some people successfully fight off the virus whilst most people who contract the hepatitis C virus remain chronically infected.

Most people with chronic hepatitis C (defined as continuous disease without improvement for at least six months) do not have any symptoms. Where symptoms do occur, they might be similar to those experienced during acute hepatitis C, but without jaundice. With the exception of fatigue, symptoms with chronic hepatitis C are usually fewer and less severe than those seen during an acute infection.

If people do not receive treatment, the risk of significant liver damage is increased as time goes on. At first, this damage takes the form of scar tissue or fibrosis, where healing of the liver is no longer properly controlled. In approximately 20% of patients, chronic hepatitis leads to cirrhosis and liver failure.1 Cirrhosis usually takes around 20–30 years to develop. At a later stage, patients who develop cirrhosis can experience symptoms such as jaundice, muscle wasting, skin abrasions or swelling of the stomach or ankles. 

How will hepatitis C treatment affect me?

Hepatitis C can be cured, though the success rates of treatment are dependent on virus genotype. 

However, it is common for the drugs prescribed to get rid of the hepatitis C virus and prevent liver damage to cause side effects. These side effects can include, but are not limited to:

  • Fatigue
  • ‘Flu-like’ symptoms
  • Nausea (feeling sick)
  • Anaemia (low numbers of red blood cells in the blood)
  • Neutropenia (low numbers of white blood cells in the blood)
  • Depression
  • Itching
  • Skin rashes
  • Hair loss.

It is possible that blood tests will be required so that the doctor can monitor the blood-related side effects (anaemia). The doctor will want to make treatment as easy as possible for a patient with hepatitis C. Therefore, it is important that the doctor is told about any side effects because there will probably be something that can be done to help.

1World Health Organization website:
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/hepatitis/whocdscsrlyo2003/en/index.html