LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Hepatitis C: Diseases
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New cases of hepatitis C are declining as awareness of the disease alters public perceptions and health care precautions. Approximately 250,000 cases of HCV were reported yearly through the 1980s. By 2001, the number of new infections had dropped to 25,000.
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The authors of a 2003 systematic review of medicinal herbs for hepatitis C concluded that there is not enough evidence to support using herbs to treat the disease. This team identified 13 clinical trials that were of sufficient quality for them to analyze. Compared to placebo,h they found that none of the herbs tested showed effects on liver enzymes or reduced the amount of HCV in the bloodstream, except for milk thistle, which did show a significant reduction of liver enzymes in one trial.3
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Similar to HIV, individuals with hepatitis C may not realize they are infected with the virus for years and unwittingly transmit it to others. Of the estimated 4 million Americans infected, it is estimated that 95 percent are unaware of their infection, according to David L. Thomas, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University.
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Other patients... will have severe hepatitis C, with detectable HCV in their blood, liver enzymes elevated as much as 20 times more than normal, and a prognosis of ultimately developing cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. Another group of patients falls somewhere in the middle, with few or no symptoms, mild- to-moderate elevation of liver enzymes, but with an uncertain prognosis.
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Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which is found in the blood of persons who have this disease. HCV is spread by contact with the blood of an infected person.
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The public focus on hepatitis C ... includes little mention of the questionable way this disease was tracked and managed by doctors, blood bankers and government health officials. Research Bedrock The blood test at issue, known as ALT,measures the liver enzyme alanine aminotransferase.
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