New Face of Cure for Hepatitis C

New Face of Cure for Hepatitis C
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New Face of Cure for Hepatitis C
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Executive Summary ……………………………....……………………………..3
2 Chapter 1: Definition of the Problem/Hypothesis ……………….………………5
3 Chapter 2: Literature Review ……………………………………………………8
4 Chapter 3: Methodology ………………………………………………………..10
5 Chapter 4: Data Analysis ………………………………………………………..11
6 Chapter 5: Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations …………………….14
7 List of References ……………………………………………………………….15
8 Appendix ………………………………………………………………………...16
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Hepatitis C (hep C) is a viral infection that is brought about by the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The virus is spread by blood and mostly in health care facilities. If left untreated, hep C can cause irreversible damage to the liver and even end up in death. Experts point out that Hep C is the primary cause of liver cancer and accounts for nearly 82% of all the liver transplants. Apart from this, the virus is also linked to numerous other conditions including but not limited to diabetes and depression. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are over 3 million people infected with the virus but only half of this number is aware that they are infected. Although statistics show that there are about 16,000 hep C deaths each year, other statistics show that the true hep C-connected deaths is over 50,000.
From the moment that HCV was identified as the major cause of hep C, finding the ideal cure for the disease has been a concentrated field of research by academicians and drug companies. Immediately after the discovery of the virus, the introduction of interferon, and shortly after that, pegylated interferon and ribavirin presented for the very first time the possibility of finding a cure for people suffering from hepatitis C. There were, however, challenges with these efforts as majority of the individuals with the virus were ineligible for treatment using interferon while those eligible for treatment the rate of success was no more than 50%. In addition to this, only a small fraction of those who commenced treatment ended up completing due to the hars...