“Today it is possible to recover from hepatitis C thanks to innovative short-term therapies, at most 8 weeks. For some years we have had medicines available which, when taken orally, are well tolerated and highly effective. Just think that over 95% of patients achieve complete healing, or the disappearance of the infection for the rest of their lives and with a particularly short course of therapy. Unthinkable in the past when therapies lasting 12-16 and even 24 months were needed against the HVC virus, with much more toxic, poorly tolerated and much less effective approaches”. Stephen Bonoraassociate professor of infectious diseases at the University of Turin, on the sidelines of the XXI Simit National Congress (Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases) underway in Rome.
“The contagiousness of hepatitis C remains – underlines the expert – because there is a large proportion of people who are not aware that they have the infection, so they do not know that they can pass it on. Hence the need to keep our guard up. Attention must be preserved and must be maintained, as in the past, to all those practices through which one can come into contact with the blood of other people or with not well sterilized instruments that have been in contact with the blood of other people. Therefore the transmission can also take place through tattoos, piercings, aesthetic treatments, which for this reason must be performed only in centers that strictly follow the established rules of the case”.
Regarding the impact of hepatitis C on the life of patients, Bonora has no doubts: “It can be considerable. We take into account – he explains – the fact that HCV infection can be asymptomatic for a very long time and in some people even for the rest of their lives.The problem is that hepatitis C can lead over time, with a speed that varies from person to person, damage to the liver which ultimately manifests itself with cirrhosis of the liver and with the appearance of liver tumors which then become serious pathologies for the patient. Furthermore, there are data that indicate that a chronic infection, even if not yet associated with symptoms, can still lead to a deterioration in the patient’s quality of life in terms of physical performance, in terms of minor disturbances and neurocognitive deficits, as well as to difficulty concentrating and asthenia”.