High viral loadswith Hep C

[karen1374]

My Uncle has a viral load of 9 million 300  thousand.
He has had Hep C for over 30 years. He is 57 years old.
How high does a viral load have to get before the liver shuts down?

[copyman]

Viral load means nothing except when treating. It has no correlation with how much liver damage is present. If your uncle wants to know how long before his liver "shuts down" tell him to get a liver biopsy and see a good hepatologist.

[Fl_Gator]

Welcome

The liver won't shut down due to viral load...your uncle should have a liver biopsy to see what the stage of his liver damage is.

I have had HCV for more than 25 years. My viral load was 14 million when I started tx 3 months ago...5 ml 2 years ago when diagnosed. I have had 2 biopsys in the last two years and both showed my liver to be stage 1 (minimal damage)...grade 3 (inflamation).

Since having children 25 years ago, I haven't been a heavy drinker (a little beer and wine) and no drugs. I naturally love healthy foods but I also love chocolate cake and tacos.

HCV damages each of us differently....we damage ourselves differently as well. Drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and unhealthy diet will progress the damage faster. The healthier your lifestyle the less damage you will do to yourself in any situation.

Hope this helps...there are many people here who will give you good info to share with your uncle...

[fretboard]

Welcome to the forum.  My VL was at 4.5 million on last check.  There are alot of ppl on here who can answer this question way better than I can, but I've been on this forum a long time.  I've never heard on anybody's liver shutting down b/c their VL was high.  For a person's liver to shutdown it would take alot more than a high VL.  About your Uncle, has he had a liver biopsy done?  That is the best way to determine how much damage has actually occured to his liver and whether it's gonna shut down or not.  One of my doctor's told me that a person can live for a long time with their liver functioning at 40% capacity.  Someone else will chime in on this question later, but just to give you an idea.  One person on here had a VL of 75 million and their liver didn't shut down.  God Bless