Hepatitis C Antibodies

Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that is most commonly caused by viruses but may also be due to chemicals, drugs, alcohol, inherited diseases, or autoimmune disease. The inflammation can be acute, flaring up and then resolving within a few weeks to months, or chronic, enduring over many years.
Hepatitis C is contracted through exposure to blood (usually from sharing contaminated needles while injecting drugs or through a blood transfusion), through sex with an infected person, via healthcare occupational exposure and it can also be passed from mother to baby.
Many people who are infected with Hepatitis C are not aware they are as acute infection produces few to mild non-specific symptoms. However, Hepatitis C can also exist as a chronic (longstanding) infection and you can show no signs of this for a number of years (even decades) but it can then cause significant liver damage. About 65-75% of those infected can develop chronic liver disease with 20-30% of these developing cirrhosis over many years.