HEPATITIS C: A COMMON BUT INFREQUENTLY TREATED DISEASE

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was first identified in 19881 and anti-HCV tests to indentify the virus became commercially available in 1990. Most cases of hepatitis previously referred to as Non-A, Non-B hepatitis were, in fact, cases of hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is transmitted by parenteral or permucosal exposure to infected blood or body fluids. Transmission from infected mother to the infant occurs in about 5% of the cases