Prevention

Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent hepatitis C infection. But you can take precautions to protect yourself against becoming infected with hepatitis C virus and to prevent passing on the virus to others. CDC recommends that you

• Do not share personal care items that might have blood on them, such as razors or toothbrushes.
• Do not shoot drugs; if you shoot drugs, stop and get into a treatment program; if you can't stop, never share needles, syringes, water, or "works," and get vaccinated against hepatitis A and hepatitis B.
• Consider the risks if you are thinking about getting a tattoo or body piercing. You might get infected if the tools have someone else's blood on them or if the artist or piercer does not follow good health practices.
• Do not donate blood, organs, or tissue if you have hepatitis C.

HCV can be spread by sex, but this is rare. If you are having sex with more than one partner, using latex condoms correctly and every time you have sex may help prevent the spread of HCV. You should also get vaccinated against hepatitis B.

Healthcare or public safety workers should always follow special precautions when handling needles and other sharp instruments and get vaccinated against hepatitis B.

Most people who are infected with HCV have no symptoms even though they may have been infected several years earlier. Therefore, it is important for people at high risk for getting infected to be tested for HCV so they can start treatment as early as possible. High risk groups include

• People who had transfusions of blood or blood products before routine blood screening began
• People receiving dialysis
• People who have had intimate contact with anyone infected with HCV

Complications

HCV damages the liver. Of people infected with HCV, 55 to 85 percent develop chronic infection and 75 percent of those with chronic infection develop chronic liver disease.

The symptoms of liver damage may not appear for several years. If you have chronic hepatitis C, your healthcare provider may need to do a liver biopsy to diagnose chronic liver disease. Unfortunately, by the time a provider diagnoses serious liver disease, liver damage can be considerable and even irreversible. This damage often results in end-stage liver disease, cirrhosis, or liver cancer.

Because other hepatitis viruses and alcohol use are associated with faster progression of the disease, health experts advise infected people to avoid drinking alcohol and to be vaccinated against hepatitis A and hepatitis B viruses.

Research

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) supports research to improve treatments and to develop a vaccine for hepatitis C.

HCV infection is an increasing public health concern. Without more effective antiviral and immunological treatments, CDC predicts that deaths due to HCV will double or triple in the next 15 to 20 years simply because most people in the United States have been infected for a long time.

Improved treatment strategies will come from better understanding of how the virus replicates (makes copies of itself) and how it causes infection. One of the great research challenges is to identify how the body gets rid of hepatitis C after an acute infection, which occurs spontaneously in a small subset of infected people. The successful development of vaccines will depend on understanding how the body’s immune system successfully eliminates the virus in these cases.

Hepatitis C Treating Hepatitis C with Herbs and Natural Therapies 

Hepatitis C is referred to as a serious infectious virus by medical experts They also like to refer to this disease as a communicable liver disease 

Hepatitis C is referred to as a serious infectious virus by medical experts. They also like to refer to this disease as a communicable liver disease. This disease directly attacks the liver of the patient. 

However, people are more at ease these days, when it comes to talking about this condition or having contracted it for various reasons. The reason is wide availability of treatment options for this infectious disease. 

You would be highly surprised to know that a wide variety of herbal and natural treatment options are available Hepatitis C, these days. 

These are any day, a better option because the medications are effective, 100% safe and widely available. 

Here is an explanation of certain alternative therapies often prescribed for patients with Hepatitis C: 

a) Take 200mg of concentrated milk thistle with 140mg of silymarin on a daily basis. Certain studies have shown that when these herbs are used together, the disease is slowly exterminated from the body and that too without any side effects. 

b) Authentic ginseng from a local vitamin store will do a lot of good to you. You can also take it in the form of a tea. 

c) Focus on drinking licorice root tea periodically. This herb is effective in patients with Hepatitis C. One can take about two cups in a week. 

d) Sweeten your food articles with glycyrrhizin. This is obtained from licorice root. However, you should not use more than about 200mg on a daily basis. 

e) You may use ginger root in conjunction with, St. John?s Wort in order to fight depression and nausea. These herbs are often used to subsidize effects of painful medical treatments. 

f) Have green tea regularly. This will help in stabilizing cell membranes. 

g) Take a tablet of milk thistle daily in order to restore and protect liver cells. Milk thistle is actually the most common herb used in order to treat almost all types of hepatitis. 

h) Drink a teaspoon of St. John?s Wort tincture with water at least twice or thrice a day. You may also take about three tablets of St. John?s Wort on a daily basis. St. John?s Wort is known to provide adequate protection to the liver from several viral infections that ultimately lead to Hepatitis C. 

i) Take 8 grams of schisandra powed and mix it to herbal tea. This will effectively protect liver cells and also work towards rebuilding them. 

j) You must include garlic as an integral part of a healthy diet that?s rich in vegetables and fresh fruits. Garlic is the most common ingredient that?s found is several herbal remedies. It purifies blood and also removes toxins from the body. You can eat garlic raw, in a tablet form or even cooked. You need to take garlic capsules with strong odor. This ensures 100% antiviral effects. 

- Important tip and warning 

You must strictly stay away from using herbal remedies that include tinctures that has been extracted using alcohol or remedies that include alcohol. These medications will further damage your liver cells.