Why Is Treatment Important?

The liver has over 500 functions impacting everything from nutrition to bone strength to mental acuity. Unfortunately, we can't always predict who's going to run into trouble. Not everybody does. However, for those people who do develop ongoing inflammation, which is what hepatitis means, then the body tries to heal itself by scarring, and enough scarring is what cirrhosis is-- a scarred liver.

It loses its function.So if those functions fail, it becomes incompatible with life, and that's why people end up needing a liver transplant. This is a disease that already is the most important reason for people to undergo a liver transplant. The CDC has recommended that everybody born between 1945 and 1965 have a one-time testing for hepatitis C.