Silent Killer in Blood

THERE are around 300,000 hepatitis C sufferers in the UK – 50,000 of them in Scotland.

The virus is mainly transmitted through blood-to-blood contact.

More than 90 per cent of victims catch the virus through injecting drugs.

Hep C can also be passed on through other body fluids, or in Roddick’s case, through infected blood transfusions.

People receiving transfusions before a screening programme was introduced in 1991 are at risk.

Up to three in four people with hep C do not know they have it as there can be few symptoms for years.

For that reason, it is often known as the "silent killer". The infection, which can be diagnosed with a blood test, is life- threatening in a third of cases.

It can cause liver inflammation, which may lead to cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer. Some sufferers go on to have liver transplants.

There is no vaccine to protect against the virus.

But there are drugs to reduce liver inflammation.

(c) 2007 Daily Record; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.