Over fifty-nine percent of people infected with hepatitis C will remain
infected for life, but among those with genotype 1b, that figure zooms up
to 92%. Up to half of those people will develop cirrhosis, scarring of
the liver, and up to 10,000 will die this year, say doctors and disease
trackers meeting in San Diego. The latest findings are sobering because
about 1.4% of the U.S. population is infected with the virus -
“Hepatitis C Chronic 75% of the Time”, USA Today, 05-15-1995
Approximately 85% of people infected with HCV will develop chronic hepatitis;
ultimately, 20-30% of those will progress to cirrhosis. (JAMA Vol. 284
No. 4, July 26, 2000). Another 20-30% may develop chronic HCV infection
without abnormal elevations of liver enzymes in the blood. -
“Prevention, Diagnosis, and Management of Viral Hepatitis”, AMA
Progression of the disease depends on several factors: mode of transmission (transfused victims usually progress faster), age at transmission (people infected older progress faster), gender (men usually progress faster than women) and alcohol use.
