Hepatitis C, stigma and cure

Core Tip

Core tip: Around 3% of the world population, about 170-200 million people are infected with hepatitis C virus. The chronic consequences of the infection are liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, which appears in 20%-40% of the patients. Hepatitis C is not only a liver disease but also a mental, psychological, familiar, and social disease. The stigma that the infected person sometimes carries is tremendous. But, besides the “drama” of being infected, health professionals, family, society and infected patients, must be aware of the chance of real cure and definitive elimination of the virus. Step by step, the efficacy of the therapy for hepatitis C is rapidly increasing and with the new medications, the Direct Antiviral Agents-DAAs, is around 80%-90%.