Western Science has now identified Hepatitis strains from A through G and G may very well be caching up with C in the United States. Currently there are vaccines for Hepatitis A and B but none for the others.
A as I said, is largely an acute condition that can last weeks at time. In the United States, estimates that 125,000 people get it in the United States each year. About 100 people die from it in each year in the United States and 20 per cent of those who get it will be hospitalized. It is what you might get from a food handler or a patient who has the disease and has passed it on to you. This is why they have those signs in the restrooms of restaurants for employees to wash their hands. Although we in the United States associate it with traveling abroad it also can affect communities in the U.S., most notably for the past decade in Northern California.
For the Chinese herbalist, the condition will be associated with Yin Chen Ho Tang. Hep A may seem relatively benign in comparison but it can cause serious damage for any one with Hep B or C.
Before we look at B and C, let's look at viruses in general. Viruses are incomplete chromosomal molecules that need a host in order to replicate. Hep B is DNA or double stranded. Hep C is RNA or one strand. This means that it targets the liver cells in order to complete replication and it makes the Hep C virus less stable and more destructive for the host.
In Hepatitis C mutations happen rapidly making it harder for the immune system to respond effectively as well as difficult to eradicate using anti-viral medications. Hepatitis C virus is very small compared with others. Along with it's tendency to mutate it's size makes it harder for the immune system to grab on to parts of it. Hepatitis C is particularly well protected by a surrounding irregular protein shell that seems to fool immune cells. This may also explain why Hep C is able to hide undetected in parts of the body. Many times, a person will get treated and there is no sign of the virus but after a few months with re-testing, the virus reappears.
There are 6 major genotypes of HCV and over 50 subtypes. The major types are numbered one through 6 and then the subsets with letters. So in the United States we have genotypes 1a and 1b while Asia has genotypes 2. Unfortunately for us in the United States, the type 1 sets happen to be more resistant to treatment by interferon.
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