Anemia and Hepatitis C

Anemia is defined as a health condition in which our body do not have enough red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood to carry the function of delivery oxygen and nutrient to the tissue, including organs and cells. To read more about Anemia, click here

Hepatitis C is a health condition of infectious disease affecting the liver that may cause inflammation of the liver. Approximate 1.5% of the U.S. population is infected with HCV. Once establish, the chronic infection may progress slowly, after many years it can lead to scares in the liver, causing fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver failure.

Causes of anemia in hepatitis C patient
1. Medication
Medication used to treat hepatitis C, such as Ribaverin often cause mild anemia with no treatment required. In other treatment, use of interferon can suppress the bone marrow function in production of red blood cells.
2. Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis is advanced scarring of the liver caused by hepatitic C virus. it can reduce the spleen function in production of reb blood cells or cause spleen to remove too many blood cells.
3. Bleeding
Cirrhosis can also promote bleeding of the gastrointestinal tract.
4. Etc.

After thought
Since approximate 67% of patients will develop anemia when ribavirin and/or interferon is/are used to treat HCV,
1. Increasing red blood cells count is always important for the effectiveness of full dose of ribavirin and/or interferon in treating the diseases. Study showed that medicine used to stimulate red blood cell production are effective in treating anemia in people with hepatitis C.

2. If anemia left untreated, treatment of HCV with lower doses of ribavirin and/or interferon may reduce the effectiveness of the medicine or you doctor may discontinue treatment altogether.

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