BETWEEN 60 and 70 per cent of those who have been infected with the hepatitis C virus will go on to become chronic sufferers, according to Dr John Hegarty, consultant hepatologist and head of the liver unit at St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin.
More than 20 per cent will develop cirrhosis of the liver, he said. Addressing the tribunal of inquiry into the hepatitis C scandal, he traced the pattern of the illness through mild inflammation of the liver, to fibrosis, to cirrhosis and possibly cancer.
Dr Hegarty, who is treating more than 200 patients who received the virus through anti D product made at Pelican House, said studies suggested the normal time span between acquiring the virus and cirrhosis was 15 years. However, it was already clear this did not apply where the anti D recipients were concerned.
Though it was almost 20 years since some of them received the virus, 10 per cent had developed cirrhosis, while 25 per cent had fibrosis, he said. But "the majority have manifested some degree of inflammation (of the liver)". It was "reasonable to assume" that those with fibrosis would go on to develop a more serious liver condition, probably cirrhosis.
He believed that 75 per cent of the women affected were not at risk of advanced liver damage in the next "five to 10 years," but about 5 per cent would develop cirrhosis, and 20 per cent fibrosis.
Normally, drugs were successful in treating 30 to 40 per cent of hepatitis C sufferers, after six to 12 months of treatment. But in the case of those who received the virus through anti D, the success rate was between 10 and 15 per cent.
Cirrhosis/liver cancer would necessitate a transplant, he said.
Even those who tested hepatitis C negative, with antibodies in their blood, suffered inflammation of the liver, though of a milder form, he said.
