If you have the hepatitis C virus in your blood for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, you have “acute” hep C. After 6 months, it's called “chronic.” Without diagnosis and treatment, chronic hep C can remain for many years and lead to serious symptoms like liver damage.
Inflammatory liver disease, unspecified.
Most people who get infected with the hepatitis C virus develop chronic hepatitis C. Hepatitis A can last from a few weeks to several months. Hepatitis B can range from a mild illness, lasting a few weeks, to a serious, life-long (chronic) condition.
For some people, hepatitis C is a short-term illness, but for more than half of people who become infected with the hepatitis C virus, it becomes a long-term, chronic infection. Chronic hepatitis C can result in serious, even life-threatening health problems like cirrhosis and liver cancer.
ICD-10-CM Code for Liver disease, unspecified K76. 9.
A biopsy is sometimes done to confirm the diagnosis, but chronic hepatitis is usually diagnosed based on blood test results. Drugs, such as antiviral drugs or corticosteroids, may be used, and for advanced disease, liver transplantation may be needed.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E. These 5 types are of greatest concern because of the burden of illness and death they cause and the potential for outbreaks and epidemic spread.
Hepatitis B is certainly more virulent and contagious than hepatitis C. Hepatitis B is prevalent around the world and it causes more liver cancer than hepatitis C. People with hepatitis B are more likely to die from complications to their liver than people with any of the other hepatitis infections.
After six months 70% to 85% of those infected will have failed to clear the virus spontaneously. After this period the hepatitis C virus enters what is known as the 'chronic phase'. This is when hepatitis C becomes a chronic or long-term infection.
When you have hepatitis C, it's possible to go for years without knowing you're infected. If you feel fine, does that mean you don't need to treat the infection? It's important to understand how the virus works. After you're infected, chronic hepatitis C may silently hurt your body.
There are at least six different types of hepatitis (A-G), with the three most common types being hepatitis A, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Hepatitis A is an acute infection and people usually improve without treatment.
Usually, chronic hepatitis is caused by infection with the hepatitis B or C virus. These viruses primarily are passed from person to person through sexual contact or through contact with blood or other bodily fluids when needles are shared or during blood transfusions.
Chronic hepatitis B infection lasts six months or longer. It lingers because your immune system can't fight off the infection. Chronic hepatitis B infection may last a lifetime, possibly leading to serious illnesses such as cirrhosis and liver cancer.
The disease is closely associated with unsafe water or food, inadequate sanitation, poor personal hygiene and oral-anal sex. Unlike hepatitis B and C, hepatitis A does not cause chronic liver disease but it can cause debilitating symptoms and rarely fulminant hepatitis (acute liver failure), which is often fatal.
Hepatitis B is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus. Some people with hepatitis B are sick for only a few weeks (known as “acute” infection), but for others, the disease progresses to a serious, lifelong illness known as chronic hepatitis B.