Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T23:49:57.474Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Clinical aspects of the disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2009

Mark A. Feitelson
Affiliation:
Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia
Get access

Summary

Much of what is known about the clinical course of HCV infection comes from retrospective studies of patients with acquired NANB PTH and from prospective studies of those who were acutely exposed to HCV (Prince et al., 1974; Alter et al., 1975; Feinstone et al., 1975; Knodell et al., 1975; Esteban et al., 1990; Tremolada et al., 1991). Overall, the clinical presentation of acute hepatitis is similar in patients infected with HAV, HBV or HCV, although acute HCV infection tends to be milder than acute HBV infection. In fact, 70–95% of HCV-infected people do not recall an episode of acute hepatitis, suggesting a subclinical course is very common (Meyers et al., 1977; Koretz et al., 1993b; Hoofnagle, 1997). Apart from the fact that the average incubation period for acute HCV infection (Seeff, 1991; Koretz et al., 1993b) is between that of HAV and HBV (Table 1.1), acute cases of symptomatic HCV infection are indistinguishable from severe acute HBV or HAV infections. Symptoms of acute HCV infection, which vary in duration and intensity, span 2–12 weeks (Ch. 4) and often include malaise, nausea, and upper right quadrant pain, followed by jaundice and dark urine (Hoofnagle, 1997). Loss of appetite may also occur (CDC, 1998). These symptoms occur weeks after the appearance of HCV RNA in blood and overlap in time with the elevation of transaminases (Fig. 4.1). ALT elevations often reach a peak 10-fold or more above normal, independent of whether patients develop symptoms.

Type
Chapter
Information
Hepatitis C Virus
From Laboratory to Clinic
, pp. 97 - 100
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×