Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Applying Hep C Statistics Into Your Conversations
Because there are so many statistics to remember, often percentages and ratios are confused among the topics to which they belong. A list of the most widely repeated statistics are below
Note of importance: The “Hepatitis C Virus” causes “Hepatitis C” the Disease. The two are as different as HIV causing AIDS. Confusion exists when reading about HCV and Hepatitis C in that the public has come to commingle both the disease and the virus into the one label: “HCV” It is understood when repeating statistics that they normally refer to the Hepatitis C Virus only.
WORLD WIDE STATISTICS
200 million (200,000,000) people are infected with Hepatitis C. “Most” do not know they are infected.
- There is no percentage available defining the word “most”
- Numbers vary from 170 million up to 200 million due to statistical reporting parameters. At this time a universal reporting criteria has not been implemented.
- The incidence of HCV on a global scale is not well known because acute infection is generally asymptomatic (without symptoms).
30 million people are infected with HIV
- 170 million more or 7 times more infections of HCV vs. HIV
1 in every 12 people are infected with either Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C
Unlike Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C is not classified as a STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease)
1 drop of blood infected with HIV may contain 1 to 5 particles of virus. while 1 drop of blood infected with HCV may contain 100,000 particles of virus
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA STATISTICS
5 million people are infected with HCV
- This figure varies downward to 3.2 million people due to the lack of regulated reporting criteria between States as well as some official surveillance reports not including the homeless and imprisoned population awaiting release to the main population
4 times more people are infected with HCV than HIV
- 1 million people are infected with HIV
10% of HCV infected people are not able to define how they became infected
- These 500 Thousand (500,000) people do not know how they became infected. It was not possible to medically assign them to any high risk group.
60 % of HCV infected people do not know they are infected (3 million / 3,000,000)
80% of the time HCV is asymptomatic (without symptoms) until the liver becomes damaged.
60-70% of the time HCV will become acute Hepatitis C
75% of the time Acute Hepatitis will become Chronic Hepatitis C
10% of the time HCV is successfully fought off by the human body, leaving only the antibody created by the body to fight the virus infection.
40-50% percent of the time treatment is successful in reducing HCV to an undetectable state in the body. (Genotype 1 and race specific)
20-30% of the time treatment is successful in reducing HCV to an undetectable state in people of African or Hispanic heritage.
COMMON ABBREVIATIONS, TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
Viral - Of, relating to, or caused by a virus
V/L – Viral Load - The concentration of a virus in the blood
Viral Response – Body’s immune response to a viral infection
RVR – Rapid Viral Response
eRVR – Extended Rapid Viral Response
cRVR – Complete Rapid Viral Response
SVR – Sustained Viral Response = Infection having been lowered to levels not detectable by current testing procedures over a two year period
Questions, Comments and Suggestions are always welcome.
Labels: abbreviations, debbullan, definitions, hcv, hep c, HIV, statistics
