I asked the designers to create a Hepatitis C awareness infographic and I think they did a bang-up job. I am proud to display it here on Oh My Aches and Pains! and hope it goes a long way towards educating everyone about the risk factors for HCV infection as well as the impact HCV has on individuals, families, the health care system and our society as a whole.
How This Infographic Relates to Me
As I reveal last week in my vlog, I contracted Hepatitis C from blood transfusion I received in 1988.
I actually developed acute Hepatitis C in August 1988, with jaundice, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, fever and abdominal pain. It took me several years to recover from the fatigue I experienced from acute Hepatitis C.
I am one of the 85% who have gone on to develop chronic Hep C infection.
As noted above, I became infected near the peak of Hep C infections in 1989. This was before there was a blood test to screen the blood supply for Hep C. I knew there was a risk of contracting what was then called non-A non-B Hepatitis from blood transfusions when I signed my cancer treatment consent form in 1988. I was not in a position to refuse blood transfusions due to the nature of the cancer treatment that I received. It was a risk I needed to take to beat leukemia.
Since 1992, the risk of getting Hep C from a blood transfusion has dropped to less than 1 in 2 million.
How This Infographic Relates to You
I strongly encourage you to get tested for Hepatitis C if you identify that you have risk factors for Hepatitis C.
Knowing you have Hepatitis C is key to living a long and healthy life with it. If you know you are HCV+, you and your doctor can discuss healthy lifestyle changes, monitor disease progression and take steps to manage the infection. This can go a long way to preventing or delaying the onset of chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer.
Plus knowing you are HVC+ might encourage you to make choices that will prevent the spread of Hep C to others.
View it full size on Photobucket. Click the image below:
This infographic was made possible by http://www.foresthc.com/.
2 comments
I'm sorry that you contracted hep c while trying to win the battle with cancer. I had hep c for 20 years with no diagnosis (even though I kept trying to find out why I was so tired all of the time). One of the things I've always been thankful for is that I was too small back then to donate blood. I contracted the disease by my own mistakes and though I dont struggle with guilt anymore, I did when I was first diagnosed. I don't know if I could have stood it if I had donated blood and someone else got sick. I hope treatment works for you. My brother-in-law, and viet nam vet, is in the midst of treatment with the new antiviral, and so far so good! He's cleared the virus and has six more weeks to go. So far, he hasn't had near the side effects that I had. I'm hoping the same for you.:0)
Pam,www.boomerback-beat.com
Thank You for posting this information and Thank You to the artist who created it. This is the SILENT EPIDEMIC!
Ramona
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