Today (March 18) is the 15th National Liver Day, and this year’s theme is “Prevent Hepatitis C before it happens”. In my first article, I’ll talk about hepatitis C. What is hepatitis C? There are many types of infectious hepatitis such as A, B, C, D, E, etc. Hepatitis B is the most common one, and hepatitis C, like hepatitis B, is also a common chronic infectious hepatitis. In addition, about 3% of cirrhotic patients will further develop liver cancer each year. The prevalence of hepatitis C infection in China is 3.2%, and chronic hepatitis C (Hepatitis C) is a common viral hepatitis in China second only to hepatitis B in terms of incidence. According to data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of diagnosed cases of hepatitis C nationwide was 21,145 in 2003, and has climbed year by year since then, rising to 203,156 in 2013, an increase of nearly ten times in 10 years. Patients infected with hepatitis C often do not feel any discomfort. Currently, hepatitis C is often detected during inpatient surgical screening, or it has progressed to advanced cirrhosis or liver cancer, and the symptoms are obvious before they come to the hospital, so there are still multiple infected patients who are unaware that they have hepatitis C. Our hospital (Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hospital) screens and finds more than 1,000 cases of hepatitis C infection each year, the vast majority of which are discovered by chance during hospitalization tests. Moreover, unfortunately, many hepatitis C infected patients who are detected still do not take it seriously and do not receive timely treatment, missing a good opportunity for treatment. How is hepatitis C transmitted? Hepatitis C was mainly contracted through blood transfusions or albumin or globulin shots before 1993, but in recent years, it is mainly transmitted through intravenous drug use, unhygienic clinic shots, tooth extractions, tattoos, and sex with a person with hepatitis C and from mother to fetus with hepatitis C. Therefore, people with these conditions are advised to take the initiative to go to the hospital for screening for hepatitis C or consult an infection doctor. Interferon combined with ribavirin is a potent treatment drug for hepatitis C. Depending on the genotype, the duration of treatment varies, with a medication duration of 6-12 months. The treatment is very effective, and the cure rate of hepatitis C patients in our infection department outpatient clinic currently reaches 90%. In recent years, some new anti-hepatitis C virus drugs have been used in Europe and the United States that can further improve the cure rate, but these drugs are very expensive and are not yet available in China. (But since this year, many people in China have also smuggled in these new oral antiviral drugs from India on behalf of the purchase, such as Sofosbuvir, Dacca and other drugs, the price is much cheaper, can significantly shorten the treatment time, generally three months to cure, but also few side effects, the total cost is not high. Especially for patients with hepatitis C who cannot be treated with interferon at present such as hepatitis C causing cirrhosis, liver cancer, elderly people, etc., they also have good results! (These drugs may be able to be marketed in China in about 1 year!) Fortunately, the medical insurance of Guangzhou City has now included the treatment of chronic hepatitis C into the specific outpatient program, and the Infection Department of our hospital is designated as a specific outpatient clinic for chronic hepatitis C. I can apply for medical insurance subsidies for Guangzhou patients infected with hepatitis C. The maximum monthly reimbursement is 3,500 yuan more, and the longest continuous application is 1.5 years. This can be applied for up to 1.5 years continuously, thus greatly reducing the burden of treatment costs for hepatitis C patients.