Why is it important to test and treat hepatitis C?

  Hepatitis C is one of the viral hepatitis and is characterized clinically by an insidious onset, with no obvious clinical symptoms in most people after infection and normal liver function biochemical indicators in some infected individuals. It is only manifested by anti-HCV (+) and HCV RNA (+) in the serum. This leads some infected patients to believe that their liver function transaminases are normal and do not undergo timely antiviral therapy. In fact, even if the transaminases are normal, as long as the virus persists, the pathological damage to liver histology will slowly progress and can eventually lead to the development of cirrhosis or even hepatocellular carcinoma. Therefore, it is important to remind infected patients to pay attention to the detection and treatment of hepatitis C virus: the main transmission route of hepatitis C is blood transmission, but some patients do not have a clear history of blood transfusion. 1. Once anti-HCV (+) is found, the quantitative test for HCV RNA, the nucleic acid of hepatitis C virus, should be performed promptly. If HCVRNA is positive, the diagnosis can be confirmed and treatment can be administered. If the HCVRNA is negative, it is recommended that the test be repeated at an interval of 2 to 3 months, and a negative diagnosis should not be made because of one negative test. Because the concentration of hepatitis C virus in the serum is relatively low, when it is low below the detection level, it presents a temporary negative.  2, if the serum anti-HCV and HCVRNA are positive, regardless of whether the liver function biochemical index ALT is abnormal, antiviral treatment should be carried out.  3, Patients with hepatitis C who have progressed to decompensated cirrhosis lose the opportunity to apply interferon antiviral therapy. Therefore, the early detection and treatment of hepatitis C infection is very important.  4, the standard treatment protocol for hepatitis C is: interferon combined with oral ribavirin, most patients can achieve good results.