Hepatitis c?

recently me and someone have been arguing about the hepatitis's there is your standard A B and C but is there different levels of the C? If so which level is the worst?

Hepatitis c?
This is what I got from Ask.com It directed me to the website below.





Q. What Are the Different Types of Hepatitis?


From National Women's Health Information Center





About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by Steven Gans, MD





A. There are 5 types of hepatitis - A, B, C, D, and E - each caused by a different hepatitis virus.





Hepatitis A is caused by eating food and drinking water infected with a virus called HAV. It can also be caused by anal-oral contact during sex. While it can cause swelling and inflammation in the liver, it doesn't lead to chronic, or life long, disease. Almost everyone who gets hepatitis A has a full recovery.





Hepatitis B is caused by the virus HBV. It is spread by contact with an infected person's blood, semen, or other body fluid. And, it is a sexually transmitted disease (STD). You can get hepatitis B by:





Having unprotected sex (not using a condom) with an infected person.





Sharing drug needles (for illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine or legal drugs like vitamins and steroids).





Getting a tattoo or body piercing with dirty (unsterile) needles and tools that were used on someone else.





Getting pricked with a needle that has infected blood on it (health care workers can get hepatitis B this way).





Sharing a toothbrush, razor, or other personal items with an infected person.





An infected woman can give hepatitis B to her baby at birth or through her breast milk.





Through a bite from another person.





With hepatitis B, the liver also swells. Hepatitis B can be a serious infection that can cause liver damage, which may result in cancer. Some people are not able to get rid of the virus, which makes the infection chronic, or life long. Blood banks test all donated blood for hepatitis B, greatly reducing the risk for getting the virus from blood transfusions or blood products.





Hepatitis C is caused by the virus HCV. It is spread the same way as hepatitis B, through contact with an infected person's blood, semen, or body fluid (see above). Like hepatitis B, hepatitis C causes swelling of the liver and can cause liver damage that can lead to cancer. Most people who have hepatitis C develop a chronic infection. This may lead to a scarring of the liver, called cirrhosis. Blood banks test all donated blood for hepatitis C, greatly reducing the risk for getting the virus from blood transfusions or blood products.





Hepatitis D is caused by the virus HDV. You can only get hepatitis D if you are already infected with hepatitis B. It is spread through contact with infected blood, dirty needles that have HDV on them, and unprotected sex (not using a condom) with a person infected with HDV. Hepatitis D causes swelling of the liver.





Hepatitis E is caused by the virus HEV. You get hepatitis E by drinking water infected with the virus. This type of hepatitis doesn't often occur in the U.S. It causes swelling of the liver, but no long-term damage. It can also be spread through oral-anal contact.





Sponsored Links


Hepatitis Symptoms


Find Symptoms of Hepatitis Info for Hepatitis Types A - C


hepatitis-symptoms-web.com





Hepatitis


A complete website dedicated to Hepatitis


www-Hepatitis.net
Reply:You may be referring to genotypes of HCV - there are genotypes 1 to 6 with 5 substypes a,b,c,d,e





Most people in the US have 1a or 1b.


Genotypes 2 and 3 are usually in Europe and Asia.





Genotype 1's require a longer treatment schedule of 48 weeks instead of the 24 week schedule for Genotypes 2 and 3.





I had 1b, so I had to do the 48 week treatment...all better now!
Reply:The different levels are actually called genotypes.


there are 1a,1b,1c,1d,1,e, 2a, 2b, 2c and so forth.


Any genotype can be bad. The difference between 1a, 1b's and 4's are that they are harder to treat than the other genotypes.


I know many who didn't have the harder to treat genotypes yet their quality of life was low. I know some that have the hard to treat genotypes and they seem to be doing well. So, in all reality, any hcv genotypes can be bad. The degree of symptoms do not always correlate with the level of virons nor liver disease.


I'm a 2b (cured with antiviral chemotherapy post 5 years) but my quality of life was aweful until treatment. My liver damage was only a 2.1. (now a 1.1.) yet the symptoms were horrible.


I know those that have 1a or 1b and even tho their liver damage is bad, they have less symptoms....


It's real complex because a lot of heppers have so many different things wrong with them (bi-directional diseases). It depends on lifestyle too. What we eat and drink ect has a direct impact on our health.





I did something right for 26 or so years-i limited my intake of otc meds and even prescription meds. I did not tolerate alcohol all that well ever, but really dont care to drink anyway.





Each genotype can be no more nor no less worse than the other. Again, the difference is response rates to the only well known and studied treatment and that is antiviral chemotherapy. Again 1's and 4's are harder to treat.
Reply:There is only one hep C. It can lay dormit in the body for many years. Each person can have a different pattern of the same disease.