Good Practice

Non-Adherence Doctor’s orders

Chronic hepatitis C is a slowly progressive infection that can cause liver fi brosis and eventually develops into cirrhosis of the liver in 20% of the affected population.

‘Hepatitis C is an RNA [ribonucleic acid] virus that infects the liver,’ Dr Alex Thompson, Director of the Department of Gastroenterology at Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital, told Good Practice. ‘In about 25% of cases, the infection is thrown off and resolved, but in 75% of cases it establishes persistence.

‘The rule of thumb is that it is considered persistent once it has been present for six months.’