What is Hepatitis?
Hepatitis CHepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that usually transmits through sharing needles or other drug-related equipment. Other people who may be at risk include healthcare workers who handle sharps and children whose mothers have the virus. It can be a short-term condition, but up to 85% of people will develop a chronic, long-term infection. A person may have no symptoms, and around half of people living with the virus do not know they have it. They may transmit it to another person without realizing it. The CDC estimate that there are around 44,300 new cases of hepatitis C each year, and that around 2.4 million people are currently living with this virus in the U.S. The number has been growing since 2010.
