Am happy to come in contact with this group. I have a brother who is 31 years old.He was diagnosed of hepatitis c(he was tested positive to hepatitis C virus).he was admitted in the hospital and we stayed for almost 2 months.

Hello Anonymous,

Welcome to EmpowHER. Thank you for reaching out to our community for guidance.

To help you understand what is happening with your brother, let us look at the two diagnoses, Hepatitis C and hemolytic anemia.

Hepatitis C is a contagious liver disease that ranges in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, lifelong illness that attacks the liver. It results from infection with the Hepatitis C virus, which is spread primarily through contact with the blood of an infected person. Hepatitis C can be either “acute” or “chronic.”

Acute Hepatitis C virus infection is a short-term illness that occurs within the first 6 months after someone is exposed to the Hepatitis C virus. For most people, acute infection leads to chronic infection.

Chronic Hepatitis C virus infection is a long-term illness that occurs when the Hepatitis C virus remains in a person’s body. Hepatitis C virus infection can last a lifetime and lead to serious liver problems, including cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) or liver cancer.

Dark urine and jaundice or yellow color of the skin and eyes are two hallmark symptoms of liver damage.

Separately, your brother suffers with hemolytic anemia. That is a condition in which red blood cells are destroyed and removed from the bloodstream before their normal lifespan is over.

When blood cells die, the body's bone marrow makes more blood cells to replace them. However, in hemolytic anemia, the bone marrow can't make red blood cells fast enough to meet the body's needs.

Hemolytic anemia can lead to many health problems, such as fatigue, pain, irregular heartbeats called arrhythmias, an enlarged heart, and heart failure.

There are many types of hemolytic anemia. The condition can be inherited or acquired. "Inherited" means your parents passed the gene for the condition on to you. "Acquired" means you aren't born with the condition, but you develop it.

Hemolytic anemia can be a consequence of treatments for Hepatitis C. However, there was one case of a person who developed autoimmune hemolytic anemia and never received any treatment for Hepatitis C.

For the benefit of all our reader, pcv stands for packed cell volume.

PCV is the percentage of red blood cells in circulating blood. A decreased PCV generally means red blood cell loss from any variety of reasons like cell destruction, blood loss, and failure of bone marrow production. An increased PCV generally means dehydration or an abnormal increase in red blood cell production.

Anonymous, the rise and fall in your brother's pcv was a reflection of receiving the units of packed cells.

Were prednisolone, levolin and desolate prescribed to treat Hepatitis C? It appears the virus is in remission.

The goals of treating hemolytic anemia include reducing or stopping the destruction of red blood cells, increasing the red blood cell count to an acceptable level, and treating the underlying cause of the condition.

Anonymous, I can only suggest that you seek the help of physicians at a major university hospital associated with a medical school. Here in the United States, expert physicians are often associated with medical school and are on the cutting edge of advances in medicine.

You and your brother will be in my prayers,
Maryann