How can hepatitis C be prevented? Because of the insidious onset of hepatitis C, most people infected with the hepatitis C virus have no obvious clinical symptoms for a long time, but the destruction of liver cells by the virus continues. 75%-85% of acute hepatitis C will turn chronic, and if left untreated, it may turn into cirrhosis and liver cancer, causing a serious burden for individuals, families and society. At the same time, there is no vaccine that can effectively prevent it. This is why hepatitis C is known as the “silent killer”. Since there is no vaccine to prevent hepatitis C, daily prevention is especially important. Hepatitis C is transmitted in a similar way to hepatitis B, mainly through blood transfusions, blood products, drug use, mother-to-child transmission, and other infections of medical origin, including unsafe injections, dental instruments without strict sterilization, endoscopes, surgical procedures, and interventional operations. In addition, operations such as tattooing, cosmetic surgery, and nail care, may also transmit hepatitis C. People at high risk for hepatitis C include: paid blood donors, especially those with a history of plasma donation; people who used blood products before 1995; people who have injected drugs intravenously; people with HIV infection; patients who have undergone surgery, blood transfusion, hemodialysis or interventional treatment; people who have had unsafe sex; newborns born to mothers infected with hepatitis C virus; health care workers and emergency personnel who have been exposed to hepatitis C virus. Prevention for the general population: have good living habits and common sense of hygiene, avoid invasive operations in clinics and medical cosmetic institutions with poor hygiene conditions; avoid unnecessary transfusion of blood and blood products. Husband and wife should be actively treated if one of them is found to have the disease, and women of childbearing age should be cured first before considering childbirth if possible. The ways and manifestations of hepatitis C infection are found: 1. Health check-ups: Some are first found to have abnormal ALT (aminotransferase) and further search for the cause. Some are found in medical check-ups before going abroad, and this is mostly in young people; 2. found “unintentionally” during routine check-ups before surgery or invasive operations; 3. found low platelets (blood tests, often with skin bruising, nose and teeth bleeding); 4. sudden gastrointestinal bleeding: occasionally encountered; 5. nausea, yellow urine, general weakness, further examination is found. How is hepatitis C treated? Once you have hepatitis C, in addition to active antiviral treatment, you should take care not to strain yourself in your normal life, stop drinking, and avoid using drugs that can damage your liver. The key to the treatment of hepatitis C is early detection and diagnosis, and the current international treatment is interferon combined with ribavirin antiviral therapy. In China, about 60% of hepatitis C patients are able to tolerate interferon, but there are still 40% of patients who are basically without treatment drugs. New oral drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C are available on the market, but are still in the clinical research stage in the mainland and have not been approved for marketing. In addition to antiviral, TCM practitioners will use anti-fibrotic and liver-protective enzyme-lowering methods. Fuzheng Huayu capsule/tablet, which was presented at the 64th Annual Meeting of American Liver Research, announced the successful completion of the U.S. [expression] phase I clinical trial. It is reported that anti-fibrotic drugs can play a role in inhibiting or even reversing liver fibrosis, improving liver microcirculation, and enhancing the body’s immunity.