Hepatitis C
Eighty percent (or 8 out of every 10) of people exposed to the Hepatitis C virus get a chronic infection (one that does not get better and lasts for a long time). Most experience very few or no symptoms during the first decades of the infection, although chronic Hepatitis C can cause fatigue (feeling tired). But in people who have been infected for many years, Hepatitis C can cause serious problems, like cirrhosis and liver cancer. Hepatitis C leads to cirrhosis in 10–30% (between 10 and 30 out of every 100) of people who have been infected over 30 years. People with Hepatitis C are more likely to get cirrhosis if they are men; if they are alcoholics; or if they also have Hepatitis B or HIV. Cirrhosis can cause serious problems on its own, but it also makes people more likely to get other serious illnesses. For example, people who get cirrhosis are twenty times more likely to get liver cancer (with about 1-3% getting liver cancer every year). People with Hepatitis C who are alcoholics are even more likely - 100 times more likely - to get liver cancer. Among people in general, 27% of all cases of cirrhosis, and 25% of all cases of liver cancer, are caused by Hepatitis C.