There are two forms of hepatitis C. The first form is called acutehepatitis C, which means that you recently became infected with the virus. The second form is called chronic hepatitis C, which means that you have had an infection for more than 6 months.

Most people who are infected with hepatitis C develop chronic hepatitis C. But even people who have been infected for a while usually do not have symptoms. This makes it common for people to have hepatitis C for 15 years or longer before it is diagnosed. Many people find out by accident that they have the virus, such as when donating blood or having a routine physical exam.

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If you've just been diagnosed with hepatitis C, you may worry about passing on the virus to a loved one. If you've had the disease for a long time without knowing it, you may dwell on every little incident in the past where you might have accidentally exposed a family member to the disease. "Worrying about passing on the disease is pretty common," says Alan Franciscus, executive director of the Hepatitis C Support Project in San Francisco. "I see a lot of people who are HCV positive who are...

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If symptoms do develop, they may include:

Fatigue.
Joint pain.
Belly pain.
Itchy skin.
Sore muscles.
Dark urine.
Jaundice, a condition in which the skin and the whites of the eyes look yellow.

Hepatitis C damages your liver very slowly. About 25% of people who have long-term (chronic) hepatitis C will go on to develop severe liver damage and scarring (cirrhosis) after a period of about 20 years or more.⁹ If you develop cirrhosis, you may have:

Redness on the palms of your hands caused by expanded small blood vessels.
Clusters of blood vessels just below the skin that look like tiny red spiders and usually appear on your chest, shoulders, and face.
Swelling of your belly, legs, and feet.
Muscle shrinking.
Bleeding from enlarged veins in your digestive tract, which is called variceal bleeding. Variceal bleeding can be very serious even though you may not have previous symptoms of the problem.
Damage to your brain and nervous system, which is called encephalopathy. Encephalopathy can cause symptoms such as confusion and memory and concentration problems.

Many other health problems are associated with long-term cirrhosis. For more information, see the topic Cirrhosis. There also are many other conditions with similar symptoms.

WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise

Last Updated: October 22, 2009

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