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Q - Dear Annabelle,
I love your column - the answers that you give people are patient, understanding, and sensitive. In a few of your responses, I noticed you mentioned hepatitis three is on the rise. What is this disease, how can you contract it, and what are the results? Just curious. Thank you.
A - Dear Beth,
Here is my understanding in a nutshell: Hepatitis C, (or 3), is a blood borne virus that is transmitted through the Îusual suspectsâ, i.e., body fluid sharing. Hepatitis C is not a Îflashyâ as AIDS and hasnât yet gotten the press that AIDS has.
The infected person dies -- slowly -- of cirrhosis of the liver. Now, dying an untimely death is not usually desirable, with cirrhosis being very high on the list of Îthings to avoidâ.
FYI there is a terrific search engine named Îdog pileâ (as in http://www.dogpile.com) that searches other search engines and then delivers ALL the results grouped by engine, that will deliver up most anything you need.
Iâm send along a Canadian site that will answer (most of) your questions. You might also check an issue of the ÎNew Yorkerâ -- published sometime in the first six months of Î98 -- that has a long and detailed discourse on this very intense and unpleasant scourge. The New York Times Magazine August 2, 1998, also has an informative article on this subject.
http://www.hepnet.com/nih/contents.html
Enjoy your life and stay safe!
- Annabelle
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