Hepatitis C Virus
What is Hepatitis C Virus?
Hepatitis means "swelling or inflammation" of the Liver. Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) can cause chronic (ongoing) illness, that may lead to liver disease.
Unlike HBV and HAV there is no vaccine for HCV.
Across the globe it is estimated that 3% of the population are infected with HCV (estimates in the UK range from 0.3-0.7%). This means that for every patient with HIV, there are 4 patients with HCV.
Symptoms and Progression of the Virus
HCV effects patients in different ways and there is a wide incubation period of up to 26 weeks.
Many of those infected with HCV have no effects and may not ever know they have the virus. However a high proportion of these individuals become chronic carriers.
Symptoms of HCV may include; extreme tiredness, weight loss, nausea, flu like symptoms, abdominal pain and jaundice.
It is estimated that 15-20% of people infected clear the infection naturally within 6 months.
For the remaining 80-85% HCV is a chronic illness and can span decades to life. Of this 80% approximately 20% will progress to cirrhosis of the liver and of these 1-5% will progress to liver cancer.
Transmission
Transmission is now mainly by injecting drug users sharing contaminated needles.
Other less efficient modes of transmission include; mother to baby, STD's, tattooing, piercing and sharing hygiene equipment such as razors and tooth brushes.
In a healthcare setting it is possible to spread HCV from - Patient to patient: this maybe due to failure of infection control procedures, such as inadequately sterilised equipment.
Patient to healthcare worker : via occupational exposure to the blood of an infected patient.
Healthcare workers and laboratory workers are mainly at risk from needle stick injuries. The risk of infection following an injury with an infected sharp is between 1.2-3% (this is compared to 30% from HBV and 0.3% from HIV).
Prevention
In general the main advice for healthcare workers is this -
Follow infection control procedures to minimise the risk of patient to patient transmission. The Department of Health has issued guidelines on preventing hospital acquired infections, also on standard principles of infection control precautions. This covers advice on safe handling and disposal of sharps and advice about the decontamination and sterilisation of instruments.
Staff should be fully trained in the safe handling and disposal of sharps. The Department of Health has issued guidance for healthcare workers on protection against occupational infection with blood borne viruses.
For any healthcare worker who is dealing with HCV patients, or, a patient in general the best method to prevent transmission to other patients or risk of infection is regular and effective hand hygiene. Hands should be cleaned and disinfected in-between patients and new gloves worn.
schülke
schülke offer an extensive range of products that are effective against HCV1. These products include: desderman®, rotasept®, mikrozid® (range of products), perform ID®, aspirmatic® and dialox®.
Further information
Information on Hepatitis C can be found on the following web sites:
Further reading:
Hepatitis C virus the silent threat. Jeremy Bagg, Infection Control in Focus (2003) 4, 9-11.
1 Surrogate virus: Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV)