Public faces low risk of HCV; no cure exists
Health officials in Burlington, VT, released the following general information on hepatitis C virus to patients and the public after a surgeon disclosed his HCV infection.
• HCV is a viral form of hepatitis that was only discovered in 1989. It is estimated that approximately 1.8% of Americans may have HCV, although many are unaware they carry the disease. Unlike hepatitis A and hepatitis B, for which there are effective treatments, as yet there are few treatment options to diminish symptoms of HCV.
•The symptoms of hepatitis may include fatigue, jaundice (yellowing of the skin), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Many people with HCV are without symptoms, although most remain chronically infected.
• Many people who become infected with HCV have chronically abnormal liver test results, and there is no known cure at this time. Hepatitis is transmitted primarily by direct blood-to-blood contact. One form of transmission is when health care workers, like surgeons and laboratory technicians, sustain needlesticks or injuries with sharp objects and are exposed to an infected person’s blood.
• Very little is known about the transmission of HCV in hospitals, either from patients to health care workers, or vice versa. The risk of a health care worker contracting the disease after being injured with a sharp object and exposed to blood from a patient with HCV is approximately 3%. Even less is known about the transmission of HCV from health care workers to patients.
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