Hepatitis C is one of the most severe viral liver diseases. Its severity is due to the latent course and adverse consequences and prognosis after infection. The most common route of infection is hematogenous:
After medical procedures, including dental procedures;
During transfusion of blood or blood components, as well as organ transplantation;
If the patient's blood gets on the damaged skin or mucous membranes of a healthy person;
When getting a tattoo or piercing;
From using non-sterile syringes.
After entering the body, the virus attacks hepatocytes and elements of cellular immunity, where it multiplies successfully, damaging new cells. At the end of the incubation phase, a period of acute infection begins, which in 85% of people practically does not have a typical clinical picture and passes unnoticed. The remaining 15% develop flu-like symptoms in the form of fatigue, weakness, fever, headache, dizziness, and nausea.
Abdominal signs (discomfort, abdominal pain, bloating) are rare, and even more rarely, jaundice. This course contributes to the transition of the infectious process into a chronic form, which for a long time (several years and decades) does not manifest itself in any way. Only after a while, against the background of C-hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, primary hepatocellular cancer and liver failure develop, the treatment of which is extremely difficult.
Given the complexity of the clinic of this pathology, it is recommended for all adults to perform an anti-HCV test annually as a preventive examination, which is especially important for medical workers and persons who have direct contact with biofluids.
Other indications for the determination of total anti-HCV:
History of hemotransfusion - after 3 and 6 months;
Transplantation of donor organs and tissues;
After an episode of possible charging (at home, on the street, with first aid);
Before surgical interventions;
Pregnancy planning;
Postponed hepatitis C (after treatment).
Of course, the study of HCV antibodies is indicated in the case of the first symptoms of hepatitis, an increase in the concentration of liver enzymes, bilirubin, the appearance of an icteric tint of the skin and mucous membranes, as well as in a comprehensive examination for the purpose of differential diagnosis.
In the latter case, it is very important to measure the total titer of antibodies to HCV, since this result is used to judge the severity of the inflammatory process in the hepato-biliary system.
For a more accurate study of the activity of the virus in the body or the effectiveness of its elimination, individual fractions of anti-HCV are measured. In difficult, controversial and ambiguous situations, they resort to the PCR technique, thanks to which it is possible to determine even single viral particles.
