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Hepatitis C
Reviewed by Medicinsk Expert•Last updated: 2026-10-22•Infections

Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is a viral liver infection that can range from a short-term illness to a lifelong condition, often requiring antiviral treatment to prevent serious complications.

What is hepatitis C?

Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver. Inflammation is swelling that happens when tissues of the body are injured or infected. Inflammation can damage organs. One type, hepatitis C, is caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Hepatitis C can be acute or chronic:

  • Acute hepatitis C is a short-term infection. The symptoms can last up to 6 months. Sometimes your body is able to fight off the infection and the virus goes away. But for most people, an acute infection leads to chronic infection.
  • Chronic hepatitis C is a long-lasting infection. If it is not treated, it can last for a lifetime and cause serious health problems, including liver damage, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), liver cancer, and even death.

How is hepatitis C spread?

Hepatitis C spreads through contact with the blood of someone who has HCV. This contact may be through:

  • Sharing drug needles or other drug materials with someone who has HCV. In the United States, this is the most common way that people get hepatitis C.
  • Getting an accidental stick with a needle that was used on someone who has HCV. This can happen in health care settings.
  • Being tattooed or pierced with tools or inks that were not sterilized after being used on someone who has HCV.
  • Having contact with the blood or open sores of someone who has HCV.
  • Sharing personal care items that may have come in contact with another person's blood, such as razors or toothbrushes.
  • Being born to a mother with HCV.
  • Having unprotected sex with someone who has HCV.

Before 1992, hepatitis C was also commonly spread through blood transfusions and organ transplants. Since then, there has been routine testing of the U.S. blood supply for HCV. It is now very rare for someone to get HCV this way.

Who is more likely to get hepatitis C?

You are more likely to get hepatitis C if you:

  • Have injected drugs
  • Had a blood transfusion or organ transplant before July 1992
  • Have hemophilia and received clotting factor before 1987
  • Have been on kidney dialysis
  • Have been in contact with blood or infected needles at work
  • Have had tattoos or body piercings
  • Have worked or lived in a prison
  • Were born to a mother with hepatitis C
  • Have HIV
  • Have had more than one sex partner in the last 6 months
  • Have had a sexually transmitted infection (STI)
  • Are a man who has had sex with men (MSM)

What are the symptoms of hepatitis C?

Most people with hepatitis C have no symptoms. Some people with acute hepatitis C do have symptoms within 1 to 3 months after they are exposed to the virus. These symptoms may include:

  • Dark yellow urine
  • Fatigue
  • Fever
  • Gray- or clay-colored stools
  • Joint pain
  • Loss of appetite
  • Nausea and/or vomiting
  • Pain in your abdomen (belly)
  • Jaundice (yellowish eyes and skin)

If you have chronic hepatitis C, you probably will not have symptoms until it causes complications. This can happen decades after you were infected. For this reason, hepatitis C screening is important, even if you have no symptoms.

What other problems can hepatitis C cause?

Without treatment, hepatitis C may lead to cirrhosis, liver failure, and liver cancer. Early diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C can prevent these complications.

How is hepatitis C diagnosed?

Providers diagnose hepatitis C based on your medical history, a physical exam, and blood tests. If you do have hepatitis C, you may need additional tests to check for liver damage, such as other blood tests, an ultrasound of the liver, and a liver biopsy.

What are the treatments for hepatitis C?

Treatment for hepatitis C is with antiviral medicines. They can cure the disease in most cases. If you have acute hepatitis C, your provider may wait to see if your infection becomes chronic before starting treatment. If your hepatitis C causes cirrhosis, you should see a doctor who specializes in liver diseases. If your hepatitis C leads to liver failure or liver cancer, you may need a liver transplant.

Can hepatitis C be prevented?

There is no vaccine for hepatitis C. But you can help protect yourself from hepatitis C infection by:

  • Not sharing drug needles or other drug materials.
  • Wearing gloves if you have to touch another person's blood or open sores.
  • Making sure your tattoo artist or body piercer uses sterile tools and unopened ink.
  • Not sharing personal items such toothbrushes, razors, or nail clippers.
  • Using a latex condom during sex.

Frequently Asked Questions

You should not share items that can potentially harbor blood, such as razors, electric toothbrushes, or nail clippers, with someone who has hepatitis C. The virus can survive on surfaces for up to three days and is transmitted through contact with infected blood. Even small, invisible cuts on the gums from brushing teeth or shaving can expose you to the virus. To protect yourself, keep these personal care items strictly private and ensure that any blood spills in the home are cleaned up with a bleach solution.
Most patients complete a course of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medication lasting 8 to 12 weeks. After finishing the medication, it is standard protocol to wait 12 weeks before taking a follow-up blood test to check for the presence of the virus. If the virus is undetectable at this 12-week post-treatment mark, the patient is considered to have achieved a Sustained Virologic Response (SVR), which is clinically equivalent to a cure. While the virus is eliminated, any liver damage that occurred prior to treatment, such as fibrosis or cirrhosis, may take years to improve or may remain permanent, so ongoing liver health monitoring is still necessary.
No, hepatitis C is not spread through casual contact. You cannot get the virus from hugging, kissing, coughing, sneezing, or sharing food and drink. The virus is primarily transmitted through blood-to-blood contact. Therefore, it is safe to work, live, or attend school with someone who has hepatitis C without any special precautions regarding daily social interactions, provided that blood is not involved.
Most people with acute hepatitis C do not develop noticeable symptoms, making it difficult to detect without testing. However, if symptoms do appear, they may include fatigue, mild fever, nausea, loss of appetite, and dark urine. A key indicator that the infection may be becoming chronic is the persistence of elevated liver enzymes (ALT and AST) in blood tests for more than six months. Because chronic infection often remains asymptomatic for decades, regular screening is critical for those at risk, as the absence of symptoms does not mean the virus is gone.
Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine

MedlinePlus brings together authoritative health information from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organizations.

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