Demand for hepatitis C tests in the UK following the publication of the findings in May 2024. , "1,750 people in the UK are living with an undiagnosed hepatitis C infection after being given a transfusion with contaminated blood." Globally, there are thousands more unknowingly living with the .
So what is this infection, how would you know if you had it – and what can you do about it? Hepatitis C is a type of blood-borne virus that targets the liver, causing inflammation and liver damage if untreated. It spreads between people by blood-to-blood contact. In cases covered by the infected blood inquiry, infection occurred because patients received treatment products made with blood from people who had the virus.
In other cases, infection can be spread by current or previous intravenous drug use or – typically in places hepatitis C is very common such as in – by coming into contact with contaminated blood during medical or cosmetic procedures. Baby boomers – people born between 1945 and 1965 – have of hepatitis C infection (up to 1 in 30 infected in the US) due to blood transfusions and medical procedures performed before the discovery of the virus. Globally, about 50 million people are living with hepatitis C and new infections occur each year.
In some people, can lead to liver scarring (cirrhosis) and then liver failure and liver , which is responsible for around a quarter of a million deaths per year. "Transfusion hepatitis" – inflammation of the liver after a pers.
